The argument doesn’t rule out substance dualism, in which consciousness may not be governed by physical laws, but in which it is at least causally connected to the physical processes of writing and talking and neural activity correlated with thinking about consciousness. It’s only an argument against epiphenomenalism and related hypotheses in which the behaviour or existence of consciousness has no causal influence on the physical universe.
I can think of two interpretations of consciousness being “causally connected” to physical systems:
1. consciousness is the result of physical phenomena like brain states, but it does not cause any. So it has an in-edge coming from the physical world, but not an out-edge to the physical world. Again, this implies that consciousness cannot be what causes me to think about consciousness.
2. consciousness causes things in the physical world. Which, again, I believe, necessitates a consciousness variable in the laws of the universe.
Note that I am not trying to get at what Eliezer was arguing, I am asking about the consequences of his arguments, even ones that he may not have intended.
Almost.
The argument doesn’t rule out substance dualism, in which consciousness may not be governed by physical laws, but in which it is at least causally connected to the physical processes of writing and talking and neural activity correlated with thinking about consciousness. It’s only an argument against epiphenomenalism and related hypotheses in which the behaviour or existence of consciousness has no causal influence on the physical universe.
I can think of two interpretations of consciousness being “causally connected” to physical systems:
1. consciousness is the result of physical phenomena like brain states, but it does not cause any. So it has an in-edge coming from the physical world, but not an out-edge to the physical world. Again, this implies that consciousness cannot be what causes me to think about consciousness.
2. consciousness causes things in the physical world. Which, again, I believe, necessitates a consciousness variable in the laws of the universe.
Note that I am not trying to get at what Eliezer was arguing, I am asking about the consequences of his arguments, even ones that he may not have intended.
Yeah so I think Tomasik has written basically what I’m saying https://reducing-suffering.org/dissolving-confusion-about-consciousness/