The Scripture Is False And The Biblical God Is Dead.

[emjay]

That's ultimately what I meant by the sort of irreconcilable paradoxes I have when thinking about pz's... things that I just can't wrap my head around but aren't necessarily logical... more likely 'semantic confusion' somewhere down the line. Basically if you treat something differently because you think it lacks phenomenal consciousness on the one hand versus the contention that both worlds would be identical on the other. Or really, two questions stem from that... one is how that mechanistically would occur? And now that looks easyish to answer... especially in light of ast or something like that, but the harder question is what should you do with respect to a pz, how should you treat it, and with what justification if the answer is to treat it exactly the same way as something considered conscious?

I don't have a complete (or even a proper) answer to this one of course, but I would think that having phenomenal consciousness would not be the decisive factor here when considering whether we should treat a pz the same as an actual human being?

Going beyond pzs, this gets us into the question of whether we should start seriously considering advanced AI as worthy of respect and dignity (almost in the same manner as humans). I think eventually (as in decades from now), we will have to start doing so, or at least consider it. Even if we aren't ever sure that they are conscious.

But yeah, something to contemplate.

My italics. That's the paradox in a nutshell for me, and something I don't think I'll resolve any time soon. Heart and head being a bit at odds in this, as well as not being able to fully articulate it to myself.

And yeah, agree with the rest.