While one’s experience and upbringing are highly impactful on their current mental state, they are not unique in that regard. There are a great number of factors that lead to someone being what they are at a particular time, including their genetics, their birth conditions, the health of their mother during pregnancy, and so on. It seems to me that the claim that “everyone is the same but experiencing life from a different angle” is not really saying much at all, because the scope of the differences two “angles” may have is not bounded. You come to the same conclusion later on in your post, but you take a different path to get there, so I thought my own observation might be helpful.
On your next point, [Zombies! Zombies?](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/fdEWWr8St59bXLbQr/zombies-zombies) is an excellently written post on the subject that I agree with. I think it may change your opinion, especially on the claim that a p-zombie’s brain and a conscious brain are physically identical.
Your loose definition of consciousness—“the ability to think and feel and live in the moment”—clearly does not apply to inanimate objects, at least not every single inanimate object. Ultimately, yes, we are all made of particles, we are not in disagreement about that. But to say that everything is conscious essentially renders the word “conscious” to be totally meaningless.
Sure, everyone and everything is constantly being changed and recycled, I don’t disagree there. I do think, personally, that some patterns of matter are more important than others.
I don’t see how your takeaway follows from your claims. Are you saying that I should treat rocks with kindness, because rocks are essentially the same as me? And what does it mean to leave things better? In a different, more common context, I can generally agree with ideas like “treat people, including yourself, with kindness and empathy” or “leave the world better than you found it” but the reasons I believe in those ideas comes from somewhere completely different.
Ultimately, if seeing the world this way helps you to be a happier, healthier person, then I can’t say that you should or shouldn’t keep seeing things this way. But I do think that you could find much more consistent and rational reasons to justify your morality.
While one’s experience and upbringing are highly impactful on their current mental state, they are not unique in that regard. There are a great number of factors that lead to someone being what they are at a particular time, including their genetics, their birth conditions, the health of their mother during pregnancy, and so on. It seems to me that the claim that “everyone is the same but experiencing life from a different angle” is not really saying much at all, because the scope of the differences two “angles” may have is not bounded. You come to the same conclusion later on in your post, but you take a different path to get there, so I thought my own observation might be helpful.
On your next point, [Zombies! Zombies?](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/fdEWWr8St59bXLbQr/zombies-zombies) is an excellently written post on the subject that I agree with. I think it may change your opinion, especially on the claim that a p-zombie’s brain and a conscious brain are physically identical.
Your loose definition of consciousness—“the ability to think and feel and live in the moment”—clearly does not apply to inanimate objects, at least not every single inanimate object. Ultimately, yes, we are all made of particles, we are not in disagreement about that. But to say that everything is conscious essentially renders the word “conscious” to be totally meaningless.
Sure, everyone and everything is constantly being changed and recycled, I don’t disagree there. I do think, personally, that some patterns of matter are more important than others.
I don’t see how your takeaway follows from your claims. Are you saying that I should treat rocks with kindness, because rocks are essentially the same as me? And what does it mean to leave things better? In a different, more common context, I can generally agree with ideas like “treat people, including yourself, with kindness and empathy” or “leave the world better than you found it” but the reasons I believe in those ideas comes from somewhere completely different.
Ultimately, if seeing the world this way helps you to be a happier, healthier person, then I can’t say that you should or shouldn’t keep seeing things this way. But I do think that you could find much more consistent and rational reasons to justify your morality.