(October 10, 2018 at 1:33 pm)Dmitry1983 Wrote:(October 10, 2018 at 1:26 pm)Mister Agenda Wrote: If we're p-zombies, consciousness doesn't exist and there is no point in discussing its mechanisms, except as an illusion. I don't see the point of this discussion if you don't concede consciousness is real. Can you think of an experiment using the hypothesis of quantum mind or supernatural transmissions that would reveal a p-zombie?
Can you do the same with existing methods?
Not that hasn't already been done, which all amount to: affecting the brain affects consciousness and no effects on consciousness or the brain that aren't caused by physical phenomena, either within the brain or outside of it (such as blunt force trauma).
The hypotheses you present do not have that (or any) level of experimental support and amount to 'is there it some other explanation that can account for what we can observe while also bringing in the supernatural or mysterious quantum effects?'
A good hypothesis is based on observation, those are not based on observation, they're based on wishfulness. The observations are that everything about consciousness depends on the brain, adding unnecessary explanations to that is...wait for it...unnecessary. We don't add undetectable voltage faeries to electrical theory just because it's conceivable and we can't prove that they aren't real. All we can prove is that they aren't necessary. When something is observed happening to electrons for which voltage faeries are the best explanation, the matter can always be revisited.
I'm not anti-Christian. I'm anti-stupid.