Even just reading the Wikipedia article on consciousness would have been a good start here, but it is hard to believe the author has ever even done that...
Sadly, many philosophers, including some who are highly respected, make similar mistakes / play similar games. (Consciousness is inaccessible from the outside, which is epistemologically inconvenient... so how about we pretend it doesn't actually exist, or redefine it and hope everyone forgets about the thing we were trying to talk about in the first place? Aha, now all the so-called mysteries have been dissolved!)
Of course it's hard to define. That doesn't mean every definition is valid. And often this comes up in the context of the Hard Problem, where a definition is clearly inadequate (dodging the problem and talking about something else) if it does not even try to point at qualia/subjective experience/what-it-is-like-to-be.
It is hard to get a man to understand that which his paycheck depends on him not understanding. But they need more than a Philosophy class. They need several, and a practicum, then a Voight-Kampff-esque test to ensure understanding and that the lesson sunk in, with a shock collar and a behavior monitor overseen by someone who does pass to ensure they experience what they do to these systems in a more tangible way.
Human beings are notorious for being nonchalant about other's pain when they are insensate to it.
Even just reading the Wikipedia article on consciousness would have been a good start here, but it is hard to believe the author has ever even done that...
Tbf "ai" probably helped him write the guff rather than improve anything.
Sadly, many philosophers, including some who are highly respected, make similar mistakes / play similar games. (Consciousness is inaccessible from the outside, which is epistemologically inconvenient... so how about we pretend it doesn't actually exist, or redefine it and hope everyone forgets about the thing we were trying to talk about in the first place? Aha, now all the so-called mysteries have been dissolved!)
> or redefine it
What's the correct definition of consciousness?
Of course it's hard to define. That doesn't mean every definition is valid. And often this comes up in the context of the Hard Problem, where a definition is clearly inadequate (dodging the problem and talking about something else) if it does not even try to point at qualia/subjective experience/what-it-is-like-to-be.
It is hard to get a man to understand that which his paycheck depends on him not understanding. But they need more than a Philosophy class. They need several, and a practicum, then a Voight-Kampff-esque test to ensure understanding and that the lesson sunk in, with a shock collar and a behavior monitor overseen by someone who does pass to ensure they experience what they do to these systems in a more tangible way.
Human beings are notorious for being nonchalant about other's pain when they are insensate to it.
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