I couldn’t fill the survey because most of the questions that ask if “Consciousness is X” are too underspecified to answer.
E.g., is consciousness “the same in everyone”? Some properties are the same, some are different. Is it “a helpful illusion”? Helpful for whom or for what? Maybe it’s helpful some of the time and harmful some of the time. Is it “a philosophical trap”? Well, it’s trapped many philosophers, but there are also true statements about consciousness that aren’t philosophical traps. Does it “arise with complexity?” Do you mean does it necessarily arise with complexity, or does it arise only with complexity, and what is “complexity” anyway? Is it “the output of a computer”? Do you mean can it be the output of a computer, or must it be the output of a computer (i.e. can all possible conscious states be simulated)? Does my brain count as a computer?
I could go on for almost all the questions in this section: I just don’t know what is meant. This is a subject that people famously get confused about, so I don’t want to try to jump to some “naive” or “obvious” interpretation of each statement.
For a few of the questions I can’t think of any good interpretations. “Is consciousness not a something”? What is this asking?
I always cut lots of slack to surveys and look for some reasonable interpretation, but I still had some similar issues. It would probably add information to the results if all items had an option for “I don’t get it.” That should be distinguished from “I feel neutral toward this.”
I couldn’t fill the survey because most of the questions that ask if “Consciousness is X” are too underspecified to answer.
E.g., is consciousness “the same in everyone”? Some properties are the same, some are different. Is it “a helpful illusion”? Helpful for whom or for what? Maybe it’s helpful some of the time and harmful some of the time. Is it “a philosophical trap”? Well, it’s trapped many philosophers, but there are also true statements about consciousness that aren’t philosophical traps. Does it “arise with complexity?” Do you mean does it necessarily arise with complexity, or does it arise only with complexity, and what is “complexity” anyway? Is it “the output of a computer”? Do you mean can it be the output of a computer, or must it be the output of a computer (i.e. can all possible conscious states be simulated)? Does my brain count as a computer?
I could go on for almost all the questions in this section: I just don’t know what is meant. This is a subject that people famously get confused about, so I don’t want to try to jump to some “naive” or “obvious” interpretation of each statement.
For a few of the questions I can’t think of any good interpretations. “Is consciousness not a something”? What is this asking?
I always cut lots of slack to surveys and look for some reasonable interpretation, but I still had some similar issues. It would probably add information to the results if all items had an option for “I don’t get it.” That should be distinguished from “I feel neutral toward this.”