Comment by AlbertCory
3 years ago
Still begging the question, i.e. assuming that which you need to prove.
How would you prove an animal has a "subjective, qualitative experience"?
3 years ago
Still begging the question, i.e. assuming that which you need to prove.
How would you prove an animal has a "subjective, qualitative experience"?
I think you have it backwards: we would need a reason to think they don't have it, given our shared history and similar biology.
ok, so anything with our "shared history and similar biology" is assumed to have consciousness?
How similar is "similar"? Is it just mammals, or just certain orders, or can organisms in the other branches be assumed to have consciousness too?
The question of "where is the line" presumes there even is a line between matter ("objects") that expresses or does not express consciousness, which is also a big and unsubstantiated claim that requires proving. Occam's razor (i.e., our standard scientific apparatus of null vs alternative hypotheses) would seem to indicate it is appropriate to assume there is no difference in kind, only difference in degree, until there is evidence to prove otherwise.
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I think that unless you have proof otherwise we should assume all organisms have awareness of their surroundings. Otherwise you’re just doing the same thing religious people did for centuries and treating humans as ultra special.
The least like us, the less likely, obviously. Animals with very similar neurology almost certainly experience something very similar to ours.
How similar? Good question. Assume nothing and truth will out.
You can't prove that anyone other than yourself is conscious. It's assumed because other people and animals share similar biological organs and behavior.
That is what David Chalmers calls "The Hard Problem of Consciousness".