If you think that the notion of “qualia” requires them to be causally isolated from the universe (which is my guess at why you even bring the idea up), then the burden is on you to explain why everyone who discusses consciousness except Daniel Dennett is silly.
In that case, nothing can be said to depend only on the qualia, because anything that depends on them is also indirectly influenced by whatever the qualia themselves depend on.
Are there any independent variables in the real world? Variables are “independent” given a particular analysis.
When you say a function depends only on a set of variables, you mean that you can compute the function given the value of those variables. It doesn’t matter whether those variables are dependent on other variables.
I didn’t say they were causally isolated.
If you think that the notion of “qualia” requires them to be causally isolated from the universe (which is my guess at why you even bring the idea up), then the burden is on you to explain why everyone who discusses consciousness except Daniel Dennett is silly.
In that case, nothing can be said to depend only on the qualia, because anything that depends on them is also indirectly influenced by whatever the qualia themselves depend on.
When you say a function depends only on a set of variables, you mean that you can compute the function given the value of those variables.
Emotional responses aren’t independent variables, they’re functions of past and present sensory input.
Are there any independent variables in the real world? Variables are “independent” given a particular analysis.
When you say a function depends only on a set of variables, you mean that you can compute the function given the value of those variables. It doesn’t matter whether those variables are dependent on other variables.