Harry Hindu

Doesn't the theory of evolution by natural selection show us that are brain structures evolved from previous brain structures like the kind that the b...

But what if the bat experiences something else that isnt color or sound when using sonar? It seems to me that you are being inconsistent in your assum...

If comparing the similarities between animal brains and human brains and their structures is an indication that these brains share the qualities of su...

Then it is already implied that the bat has first person experiences so that you can then go about wondering what it is like to have sonar. How would ...

It seems to me that even if panpsychism were true, we would still be describing how the world is in objective terms - just different objective terms. ...

Ok, but what does it mean to experience? Can you be something (in the way Nagel is asking what is like to be something) without experiences? Can you b...

Yes, but what about computer robots that process information from sensory systems (detecting level of pressure on their surface when touching objects,...

What makes us think that there is a what it is like for a bat, but not ask the same question of a computer robot with sensory systems?

Like I said, we don't experience atoms and we use them as explanations for what we do see. We can't see anything smaller than a wavelength of EM energ...

And both positions have their criticisms and faults precisely because they fail to acknowledge the reality of morality - that there is no such thing a...

I dont see how such things can be labeled as subjective. How are your imaginings, dreams and inner dialog subjective if I can refer to them with langu...

This certainly isnt anywhere near being original or mind-blowing. People who understand other peoples intentions and their own and who find intelligen...

So, they think that consciousness is actually physical and the illusion is that it is not? What does it mean to be physical vs non-physical? Once you ...

What is the "we" that interfaces with our brains? If the interface is real, then how is it an illusion? How does this interface differ from what "we" ...

A sleight of hand is a kind of distraction, not really an illusion. The magician distracts your attention while they do something else where you arent...

What does it mean for our brain to fool "us"? Are we not our brain along with the rest of our body? Why would the brain want to fool itself? It seems ...

So preferences are not identical to genetic and environmental phenomena, which is to say preferences are based on something that arent preferences. An...

Then what are you saying - that preferences are brain states, which are also genetic and environmental phenomena? I thought they were mental phenomena...

Knowing how to do something is more like applied knowledge. One might know the steps but never performed the steps and gets better with experience. In...

Then you were wrong here: Then one's preferences are based on something that isn't their preference. They are based on genes and environmental factors...

How do you explain why anyone has any particular preference? Why do organisms appear to have preferences? And can one confidently say that all prefere...

So philosophy is a kind of religion that singles out mental phenomena as sacred or divine, while all other phenomena are just "meh". This sounds a bit...

I dont see the distinction. I can talk of Banno's preferences as an property of Banno, just as I can talk about rising global temperatures as a proper...

Yes, and one can know "2 + 2 = 4", and that would all entail knowing how to say and write these things but not what the scribbles and sounds actually ...

I provided the answer, but you simply asked the same question again. Your question, not my answer, is circular. Are you capable of observing your own ...

To know something is to have a rule for interpretting some sensory data. To know it is him is to have some prior experience which was interpretted in ...

I wouldn't frame it as a "duty". Thinking in terms of "goals" seems like a more accurate term to use here. Moral dilemmas exist because we all have in...

Exactly. In other words, philosophy is a science and conclusions from one domain of investigation should be consistent with the conclusions in another...

Is solipsism is the case, then what the solipsist "experiences" is all there is. There would be nothing external, or no causes prior to any "experienc...

wasnt that essentially the point of my post? I know that I have a mind. Therefore, if solipsism is true, I would be the solipsist. I don't need to pro...

If solipsism is true, then I am the solipsist and you all wouldnt even be mindless zombies. You all would simply be mindless strings of scribbles on a...

The brain is the hardware and the mind is the software. Think about how you learn. Learning is natural selecton shaping your understanding of the worl...

Well, that's part of the problem there. If you want to understand what Evolutionary Psychology is, the best person to ask would be an Evolutionary Psy...

It seems to me that both of our takes are based on some level of assuming determinism and no free will vs. Non determinism and free will. I am of the ...

What is a practical difference and how does that differ from some other type of difference? Would we be just talking about kinds of differences at tha...

If you arent referring to something in the world when you use the term, "H2O", then what would you be talking about? Would you be referring to a molec...

But what if the programmer programmed the computer to change its programming? People only change their programming when they learn something new. Bein...

What do these people mean when they say that have "felt God". One doesn't feel, or otherwise observe, God directly, like one observes how other organi...

This isn't what I was trying to get at. We also know many things about the brain and can make predictions about what you experience based on a your br...

Or, to be more precise, H2O is a model of water at the molecular level. Water is a model at the macro level. in all of the replies in this thread ther...

Another thread about meaning without a clear definition of meaning. Life has meaning. Your actions have meaning. Anything that has a causal relstionsh...

Exactly, so how can you make the leap to say that a robot with a computer brain isnt conscious? I am aware. Does that mean I'm conscious? I have goals...

Then youre saying that language games have an ontology themselves, no? An ontology of being in the mind and being on an internet forum.

Where are language games played - out in the world, or on one's mind? Is the internet posts and the forum out in the world or in your mind?

go back and read the part of the post you quoted.

So now youre claiming to be able to read minds. I didnt get what you meant. Really. Because it is logically inconsistent. If what you meant was so eas...

How can one be skeptical of what goes on beyond humans if other humans are part of the epistimological language game that one plays in their own mind?...

Computers do recognize patterns of on and off logical gates. What I see you doing is making a lot of claims about what humans can and what computers c...

For one, I never said there were errors in your claims. I said that they were incoherent, hence the follow-up questions that you avoided. This isn't a...

Exactly. How can a human reproduce without participating in culture? This type of talk also exemplifies the limited way in which most people view repr...