If Eliezer has his way, consciousness is not a “hard problem” at all, since asking why people are conscious is the same as asking “why do people think they are conscious,” while “thinking one is conscious” is identified with a physical state of one’s brain.
The reason Eliezer cannot have his way is that the identity or non-identity of physical and mental reality is irrelevant to explanation. For example, presumably light of different colors is identical to light of different wavelengths. But if I ask, “why does that light look red,” it is NOT a sufficient explanation to say that the light has a certain wavelength, NOR to say that my brain reacts to this wavelength in such and such a physical way. It is easy to see that the explanation is insufficient because given the explanation (info about wavelengths and brain states), one would not be able to draw the conclusion that the light would look red, unless one is given the info that a certain brain state is equivalent to seeing red. But this is the point: why is this brain state equivalent to seeing red? The question, “Why do I think that this brain statement is equivalent to seeing red,” is now not helpful at all, because presumably the reason I think they are identical is because they are identical. But why are they identical? This is just what has not been explained, and cannot be explained. So there is an actually unanswerable question (at least as far as anyone knows, by any concepts anyone has yet conceived of), and it is not a meaningless question.
“For example, presumably light of different colors is identical to light of different wavelengths.”
More specifically, lights of identical wavelengths have identical colors, and vice-versa. Clearly, “waves = colors” is not a valid statement of equality (‘color’ is an epiphenomenon of wavelengths arising as a percept in a sensory being, while the wavelengths the mind converts into colors exists independently of any observers). A wave is a wave, and a color is a color, and these two properties have a direct relationship upon which the equality or inequality of these properties in some group of objects can be ascertained.
If Eliezer has his way, consciousness is not a “hard problem” at all, since asking why people are conscious is the same as asking “why do people think they are conscious,” while “thinking one is conscious” is identified with a physical state of one’s brain.
The reason Eliezer cannot have his way is that the identity or non-identity of physical and mental reality is irrelevant to explanation. For example, presumably light of different colors is identical to light of different wavelengths. But if I ask, “why does that light look red,” it is NOT a sufficient explanation to say that the light has a certain wavelength, NOR to say that my brain reacts to this wavelength in such and such a physical way. It is easy to see that the explanation is insufficient because given the explanation (info about wavelengths and brain states), one would not be able to draw the conclusion that the light would look red, unless one is given the info that a certain brain state is equivalent to seeing red. But this is the point: why is this brain state equivalent to seeing red? The question, “Why do I think that this brain statement is equivalent to seeing red,” is now not helpful at all, because presumably the reason I think they are identical is because they are identical. But why are they identical? This is just what has not been explained, and cannot be explained. So there is an actually unanswerable question (at least as far as anyone knows, by any concepts anyone has yet conceived of), and it is not a meaningless question.
“For example, presumably light of different colors is identical to light of different wavelengths.”
More specifically, lights of identical wavelengths have identical colors, and vice-versa. Clearly, “waves = colors” is not a valid statement of equality (‘color’ is an epiphenomenon of wavelengths arising as a percept in a sensory being, while the wavelengths the mind converts into colors exists independently of any observers). A wave is a wave, and a color is a color, and these two properties have a direct relationship upon which the equality or inequality of these properties in some group of objects can be ascertained.