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Re: Are you the only conscious being in this universe?
Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2022 7:06 am
by Utisz
puerile_polyp wrote: ↑Wed Apr 13, 2022 5:00 pm
puerile_polyp wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 1:28 am
I'd also explain the species chauvinism, and all the resultant branches of philosophy, theology, linguistics, as being a function of life itself. We have to think we're special to reproduce- both in the specific individual sense and in the collective sense. We are the most sophisticated problem solving machines we've ever experienced, desperately attempting to stay alive.
Why do we need to be conscious of anything in order to prioritize our own survival? I could program a robot to attempt to preserve itself and reproduce. It doesn't need to feel anything or have any internal experience of existence.
We don't need to be conscious in order to prioritise our survival, but it doesn't mean that in the situation "we" found ourselves, that developing consciousness wasn't an advantage to survival.
Based on the diversity of species that survived, there are many recipes to survival. Consciousness is certainly not a necessary condition. I think we were just a tad unfortunate in that regard.
Re: Are you the only conscious being in this universe?
Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2022 6:14 pm
by puerile_polyp
Utisz wrote: ↑Thu Apr 14, 2022 7:06 am
puerile_polyp wrote: ↑Wed Apr 13, 2022 5:00 pm
puerile_polyp wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 1:28 am
I'd also explain the species chauvinism, and all the resultant branches of philosophy, theology, linguistics, as being a function of life itself. We have to think we're special to reproduce- both in the specific individual sense and in the collective sense. We are the most sophisticated problem solving machines we've ever experienced, desperately attempting to stay alive.
Why do we need to be conscious of anything in order to prioritize our own survival? I could program a robot to attempt to preserve itself and reproduce. It doesn't need to feel anything or have any internal experience of existence.
We don't need to be conscious in order to prioritise our survival, but it doesn't mean that in the situation "we" found ourselves, that developing consciousness wasn't an advantage to survival.
Based on the diversity of species that survived, there are many recipes to survival. Consciousness is certainly not a necessary condition. I think we were just a tad unfortunate in that regard.
So how would consciousness be an advantage to survival, as opposed to the organic humanoid automaton?
Re: Are you the only conscious being in this universe?
Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 6:43 am
by Utisz
puerile_polyp wrote: ↑Fri Apr 15, 2022 6:14 pm
So how would consciousness be an advantage to survival, as opposed to the organic humanoid automaton?
Not sure I fully understood the latter part of the question, but I don't think human-like consciousness is necessarily an advantage to survival overall.
For humans specifically, intelligence is/was a major advantage. We learnt to make tools, cultivate, collaborate, etc. And I think intelligence is sort of difficult to disentangle from the notion of consciousness (though that's debatable, I guess).
Still I think things like cockroaches or tardigrades have more survivability than humans.