Simulating a brain in silico is an eventually-achievable method to extensively test almost any hypothesis we could develop.
You just assume that’s true. Before we actually do run that simulation in practice we don’t know whether that’s true.
When I say consciousness is emergent I’m saying that I believe neuroscience will eventually be able to pinpoint the mechanisms of almost any type of higher-order thought
Yes, and other people do believe in souls and God. We don’t have evidence that proves either hypothesis.
An example non-emergent explanation of consciousness would be “the brain is an antenna for ethereal souls”, which would be hard to test but would have to be given consideration if the program I outline above completely fails to fully account for thoughts and experiences above a certain complexity.
Yes, and the brain as an antenna hypothesis is basically what parapsychologists like Dean Radin advocate these days. We don’t have yet evidence to prove it wrong.
Saying we could in theory run experiments that if those experiments turn out a certain way would prove our theory right is not the same thing as arguing that there evidence for your theory.
Science lives from distinguishing what you know and what you don’t know.
I am making predictions, but they are predictions that a concrete, existing program of research (the field of neuroscience) is trying to test.
I obviously can’t conjure this evidence out of thin air, because it doesn’t yet exist (and, sure, may never exist). But I am outlining why I believe that calling consciousness emergent is a perfectly valid, predictive hypothesis in the context of neuroscience (saying ‘phenomena X is emergent’ is, I believe, not an empty statement at all but instead more-or-less equivalent to saying “The question ‘What singular external thing causes phenomena X’ should be dissolved’; with panpsychism being the anti-emergent hypothesis in this case).
And I also believe that emergent consciousness is more likely to be the correct view, and I hope I’ve given clear reasons why that’s so.
You just assume that’s true. Before we actually do run that simulation in practice we don’t know whether that’s true.
Yes, and other people do believe in souls and God. We don’t have evidence that proves either hypothesis.
Yes, and the brain as an antenna hypothesis is basically what parapsychologists like Dean Radin advocate these days. We don’t have yet evidence to prove it wrong.
Saying we could in theory run experiments that if those experiments turn out a certain way would prove our theory right is not the same thing as arguing that there evidence for your theory.
Science lives from distinguishing what you know and what you don’t know.
I am making predictions, but they are predictions that a concrete, existing program of research (the field of neuroscience) is trying to test.
I obviously can’t conjure this evidence out of thin air, because it doesn’t yet exist (and, sure, may never exist). But I am outlining why I believe that calling consciousness emergent is a perfectly valid, predictive hypothesis in the context of neuroscience (saying ‘phenomena X is emergent’ is, I believe, not an empty statement at all but instead more-or-less equivalent to saying “The question ‘What singular external thing causes phenomena X’ should be dissolved’; with panpsychism being the anti-emergent hypothesis in this case).
And I also believe that emergent consciousness is more likely to be the correct view, and I hope I’ve given clear reasons why that’s so.