@Ryantology, Esquilax:
All fine and well. However, given any physical structure (like a collection of rocks in infinite space, or just a lowly brain), how would you be able to infer that it experiences? How could you prove, to someone not willing just to accept it at face value, that YOU are actually experiencing your environment, rather than just seeming to. Sure, you can DEFINE mind in terms of rocks, or brains, but that misses the point: only the structure itself can have knowledge of its own subjective experience (if it has any).
I know for sure that I actually have those experiences, rather than just seeming to. You cannot validate this fact without making assumptions which beg the question; and yet obviously I won't entertain seriously the idea that my knowledge that I actually experience is invalid.
All fine and well. However, given any physical structure (like a collection of rocks in infinite space, or just a lowly brain), how would you be able to infer that it experiences? How could you prove, to someone not willing just to accept it at face value, that YOU are actually experiencing your environment, rather than just seeming to. Sure, you can DEFINE mind in terms of rocks, or brains, but that misses the point: only the structure itself can have knowledge of its own subjective experience (if it has any).
I know for sure that I actually have those experiences, rather than just seeming to. You cannot validate this fact without making assumptions which beg the question; and yet obviously I won't entertain seriously the idea that my knowledge that I actually experience is invalid.
