It occurs to me, reading your post, that I have almost no idea what people mean by “conscious system”. I’m quite certain I am one, and I regularly experience other people apparently claiming to belong to that set too. I suspect that if we can nail down what it means to belong to the set of “conscious systems”, we’ll be much more readily able to determine if not being a member of that set disqualifies a thing from being an “observer”.
I suppose you’re right. Although it’s pretty easy for me to imagine something that is “conscious” that isn’t an “observer” i.e., a mind without sensory capabilities. I guess I was just wondering whether our common (non-rigorous) definitions of the two concepts are independent.
It occurs to me, reading your post, that I have almost no idea what people mean by “conscious system”. I’m quite certain I am one, and I regularly experience other people apparently claiming to belong to that set too. I suspect that if we can nail down what it means to belong to the set of “conscious systems”, we’ll be much more readily able to determine if not being a member of that set disqualifies a thing from being an “observer”.
I suppose you’re right. Although it’s pretty easy for me to imagine something that is “conscious” that isn’t an “observer” i.e., a mind without sensory capabilities. I guess I was just wondering whether our common (non-rigorous) definitions of the two concepts are independent.