In the p-zombie category is Minsky’s “society of mind”, which gives a hypothetical account of how a system might come to talk to itself about itself in the ways that we do. But how we talk about ourselves and how we feel about ourselves are two different things, and the latter is left unaddressed.
I find this class of explanations plausible, myself. I find it at least imaginable that my “feeling” of consciousness basically is the stream of potential reports about myself that I could voice, if there were an interested listener to voice them to. To put it another way: Are you quite sure that the way we feel about ourselves isn’t the same as the way we talk about ourselves (except for the inhibition of actual vocalization)? How would one show that the stream of potentially vocalized self-reports isn’t consciousness? What would distinguish them?
Are you quite sure that the way we feel about ourselves isn’t the same as the way we talk about ourselves (except for the inhibition of actual vocalization)? How would one show that the stream of potentially vocalized self-reports isn’t consciousness? What would distinguish them?
I look around, and have visual experiences. These, it seems to me, are obviously different from any words I might say, or think but not say, about those experiences.
Good point! I might sketch a visual experience, but I don’t ordinarily consider my visual experience to be a sequence of sketches, analogous to an ongoing interior monologue...
I find this class of explanations plausible, myself. I find it at least imaginable that my “feeling” of consciousness basically is the stream of potential reports about myself that I could voice, if there were an interested listener to voice them to. To put it another way: Are you quite sure that the way we feel about ourselves isn’t the same as the way we talk about ourselves (except for the inhibition of actual vocalization)? How would one show that the stream of potentially vocalized self-reports isn’t consciousness? What would distinguish them?
I look around, and have visual experiences. These, it seems to me, are obviously different from any words I might say, or think but not say, about those experiences.
Good point! I might sketch a visual experience, but I don’t ordinarily consider my visual experience to be a sequence of sketches, analogous to an ongoing interior monologue...