For this discussion I use “consciousness” to refer to the mind’s internal awareness of qualia. Consciousness may be an inherent property of whatever makes up the universe, i.e., even individual photons may have some essence of consciousness. Human type consciousness might then arise whenever sufficient elements group together in the right pattern. Other groupings into other patterns might generate other types of consciousness. Consciousness may have no purpose. Or perhaps certain types of consciousness somehow enhance intelligence and provide an evolutionary advantage.
If I don’t trust that other people have a self awareness much like mine, then I have no reason to trust any of my senses or memories or beliefs. So I trust the evidence that other humans look like me, act like me, have brains like mine, and express internal thoughts in language as I do. I am only slightly less certain that mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish are conscious as they share common ancestry, have similar brain structures, and exhibit similar behavior. I am less certain about insects or worms. As I don’t know the physical correlates of consciousness, the further from myself an entity is in structure and behavior, the less certain I am that it has an internal awareness similar to my own.
Animal consciousness can be explored by experimentation on humans, primates, mice, and fruit flies. The boundaries of consciousness can be mapped in the neural tissue of the brain. Cognitive scientists can explore what stimuli provoke a conscious response, what provoke an unconscious response, and what don’t provoke any response. Scientists can observe what brain tissue is active when we say we experience qualia and what is active when we say we don’t experience qualia. Studying brain injury patients provides a wealth of information concerning the brain’s generation of consciousness...split brain, phantom limbs, aphasias, personality changes, delusions, etc.
Such experimentation indicates that our internal concept of self is largely an illusion. The mind tries to make sense out of whatever is available. If both brain hemispheres are strongly connected then there is a strong illusion of one internal person. If the brain hemispheres are disconnected, then experiments show two different personalities inhabiting the same brain. Each personality has no awareness of the other personality. When the second personality acts independently, the first personality rationalizes why the first personality “chose” to perform the action. It is possible that many such self aware personalities co-exist in our brains, each with its own illusion of being in control and each with its own perception of qualia. (In some brain injuries, a person no longer believes that their own arm is part of self. Even though they can control the arm and feel what the arm touches, they think it is someone else’s arm. The brain function that creates the illusion of self is broken.) These illusions of self may not be necessary to experience qualia but probably are necessary for a human to describe or relate the experience of qualia.
Speculation about zombies should take into account what science has already discovered. I.e., our internal concept of ourselves is only a blurred reflection of reality. “Self” is manufactured on the fly out of bits and pieces that change with every experience, with every hormonal change, with every drug we take, or with every injury we experience.
What would our internal “self” experience as each neuron were gradually replaced by a nano computer simulator? If the simulator generated a similar essence of qualia (i.e., simulating a brain pattern is sufficient to generate the experience of qualia) then the internal experience should be the same. If the simulator produced no such experience of qualia, then our internal self would be unable to recognize that our internal awareness was shrinking. We would not be able to remember that we could once hear more sounds or see more colors as memory itself depends on that internal awareness. Our internal self would fade away unnoticed by that internal self. (In some cases of dementia, the patient doesn’t comprehend that his mind is failing. He don’t understand why his family has brought him to see the doctor.) With nano-simulators mental function would continue, but internal awareness might disappear.
For this discussion I use “consciousness” to refer to the mind’s internal awareness of qualia. Consciousness may be an inherent property of whatever makes up the universe, i.e., even individual photons may have some essence of consciousness. Human type consciousness might then arise whenever sufficient elements group together in the right pattern. Other groupings into other patterns might generate other types of consciousness. Consciousness may have no purpose. Or perhaps certain types of consciousness somehow enhance intelligence and provide an evolutionary advantage.
If I don’t trust that other people have a self awareness much like mine, then I have no reason to trust any of my senses or memories or beliefs. So I trust the evidence that other humans look like me, act like me, have brains like mine, and express internal thoughts in language as I do. I am only slightly less certain that mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish are conscious as they share common ancestry, have similar brain structures, and exhibit similar behavior. I am less certain about insects or worms. As I don’t know the physical correlates of consciousness, the further from myself an entity is in structure and behavior, the less certain I am that it has an internal awareness similar to my own.
Animal consciousness can be explored by experimentation on humans, primates, mice, and fruit flies. The boundaries of consciousness can be mapped in the neural tissue of the brain. Cognitive scientists can explore what stimuli provoke a conscious response, what provoke an unconscious response, and what don’t provoke any response. Scientists can observe what brain tissue is active when we say we experience qualia and what is active when we say we don’t experience qualia. Studying brain injury patients provides a wealth of information concerning the brain’s generation of consciousness...split brain, phantom limbs, aphasias, personality changes, delusions, etc.
Such experimentation indicates that our internal concept of self is largely an illusion. The mind tries to make sense out of whatever is available. If both brain hemispheres are strongly connected then there is a strong illusion of one internal person. If the brain hemispheres are disconnected, then experiments show two different personalities inhabiting the same brain. Each personality has no awareness of the other personality. When the second personality acts independently, the first personality rationalizes why the first personality “chose” to perform the action. It is possible that many such self aware personalities co-exist in our brains, each with its own illusion of being in control and each with its own perception of qualia. (In some brain injuries, a person no longer believes that their own arm is part of self. Even though they can control the arm and feel what the arm touches, they think it is someone else’s arm. The brain function that creates the illusion of self is broken.) These illusions of self may not be necessary to experience qualia but probably are necessary for a human to describe or relate the experience of qualia.
Speculation about zombies should take into account what science has already discovered. I.e., our internal concept of ourselves is only a blurred reflection of reality. “Self” is manufactured on the fly out of bits and pieces that change with every experience, with every hormonal change, with every drug we take, or with every injury we experience.
What would our internal “self” experience as each neuron were gradually replaced by a nano computer simulator? If the simulator generated a similar essence of qualia (i.e., simulating a brain pattern is sufficient to generate the experience of qualia) then the internal experience should be the same. If the simulator produced no such experience of qualia, then our internal self would be unable to recognize that our internal awareness was shrinking. We would not be able to remember that we could once hear more sounds or see more colors as memory itself depends on that internal awareness. Our internal self would fade away unnoticed by that internal self. (In some cases of dementia, the patient doesn’t comprehend that his mind is failing. He don’t understand why his family has brought him to see the doctor.) With nano-simulators mental function would continue, but internal awareness might disappear.