Was reading Stanford plato philosophy page and it mentioned smallism and how we tend to think that what’s fundamental to something’s existence is what makes it up or it’s constituent parts. Sort of like how we look at atoms and particles as if they are the fundamental building blocks of reality when it isn’t necessarily the case that those are fundamental . Meaning they are not what builds reality but are something which are based on something else more fundamental which encompasses all scales . Maybe a more holistic approach can alleviate some of the issues found when trying to explain why c ..read more

Upfront Disclaimer: I am not making the argument that this proves GPT4 is conscious. I am making the argument that this destroys an argument a lot of people make regarding lack of consciousness and LLM models. A lot of recent debate regarding consciousness has come down to episodic memory. No Episodic Memory = No Consciousness on face. OK, what now? At the very least, ChatGPT has just crossed a very significant threshold and now has access to what is likely the biggest precursor to consciousness. Does it matter how it has access to it and how the function of that actually works? Why does that ..read more

TL;DR: You are you because you are you. ———————————— My argument is a response to this recent post: “Just scrolling through the latest identity question post and the answers are horrible as usual” “You are you because you are you.” “Why would I be anything but who I am?”: “Who else would you be?” ”Everyone here needs to stop insulting identity questions or giving dumb answers. Even the mod of this subreddit has done it. Please stop.” ———————————— Let’s take a look at how “you” came to be. A sperm containing its own genetic information fertilized an ova that contained its own genetic ..read more

TL;DR: Consciousness is immortal and eternal Your consciousness is always present. During sleep? You're dreaming. It's just an altered state. During anesthesia or very deep sleep? You don't perceive this as nothingness. This means time passes for the body, but for consciousness it's instant transition from "here is your propofol" and "sir, can you hear me?" in PACU. Before birth? You just don't remember what was there. After death? You'll be reborn. Happened once - will happen again. And again. It's naive to think your own birth is sooo unique in the vastness of time and space. But! No memory ..read more

submitted by /u/ApolloxKing [visit reddit] [comments ..read more

Why wouldn’t explaining how matter and energy could arise from fundamental consciousness be more difficult than explaining how consciousness arises from matter and energy? If im understanding what fundamental means that would suggest that matter and energy are emergent from consciousness. Does this idea not just create a hard problem of matter? Or does saying it’s fundamental not mean that it is a base principle for the universe which all else arises from? Edit: this is the combination problem ehh? submitted by /u/fiktional_m3 [visit reddit] [comments ..read more

Just scrolling through the latest identity question post and the answers are horrible as usual. You are you because you are you. Why would I be anything but who I am? Who else would you be? It seems like the people here don't understand the question being asked, so let me make it easy for you. If we spit millions of clones of you out in the future, only one of the clones is going to have the winning combination. There is only ever going to be one instance of you at any given time (assuming you believe you are a unique consciousness). When someone asks, "why am I me and not someone else?" th ..read more

Here is my own self-published book on consciousness and being: https://www.amazon.com/Being-Consciousness-Essays-Joshua-Washburn-ebook/dp/B0CZJFWPQP/ref=sr_1_5?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.7n7OoophLJqrM1GxfBhkJwqImhlJDrwor81mRXbS0tVSqbswjyKK9EyGXwwyHFeQK9diKEdQ-8_ItjZnQ2PmFlQSPgneGE2tkHMCg2dPIiA.OUcEG6CNnlJ7eK1-dIM-o3SatWgSaqFX-yft6Rp8Nf4&dib_tag=se&qid=1713982793&refinements=p_27%3AJosh+Alfred&s=digital-text&sr=1-5 submitted by /u/Long-Holiday6913 [visit reddit] [comments ..read more

I’m currently taking a great debates module for psychology at university and in a lecture on consciousness, we were introduced to five “-isms”: -Dualism -Eliminative Materialism -Idealism -Epiphenomenalism -Panpsychism These are of course just a few responses to the mind-body problem and there are even sub-divisions within these categories, but I just wondered what people’s thoughts were on them. Is there a prevailing theory? Does your preferred theory depend on other beliefs you hold? submitted by /u/Best_Milk2354 [visit reddit] [comments ..read more

TL,DR: I've been developing a hypothesis that views each individual's consciousness as its own universe, with the overlap between individuals forming a multiverse of subjective realities. Here's a brief overview: Individual Universes: In this framework, each person's consciousness constitutes its own universe. Just as the universe we perceive is vast and complex, so too is the subjective reality experienced by each individual. Multiverse of Subjective Realities: The overlap between individuals' consciousnesses creates a multiverse, where different subjective realities coexist. This multiv ..read more