A lot of people seem to associate consciousness with moral worth. Hence, it seems like admitting you lack consciousness is rather dangerous: you may lose value in the eyes of other people.
When I think about what I find morally valuable about consciousness, I tend to think about rich experiences which are negative/positive, from the way that I rate them internally. An example of a negative value conscious experience is a sharp pain associated with being pricked by a pin. An example of a valuable conscious experience is the sensation of warmth associated with sitting near a fire during a cold winter day, together with the way that my brain processes the situation and enjoys it.
These things appears to me subtlety distinct from the feeling of inner awareness called ‘consciousness’ in this post.
Killing someone who isn’t (never has been, never will be) conscious is about as morally consequential as turning off a computer, closing a video game, or breaking a rock in two. :/ I’m not sure where that takes this conversation really, but it is interesting. Or maybe it’s morally nearer—smashing mannequins. Not sure where it is—there’s definitely a difference. And there’s always the possibility that a person just doesn’t know that they’re conscious. Or they’re just pretending to be asleep, or what have you. (Jaron Lanier: You can’t wake someone up who’s pretending to be asleep.)
A lot of people seem to associate consciousness with moral worth. Hence, it seems like admitting you lack consciousness is rather dangerous: you may lose value in the eyes of other people.
When I think about what I find morally valuable about consciousness, I tend to think about rich experiences which are negative/positive, from the way that I rate them internally. An example of a negative value conscious experience is a sharp pain associated with being pricked by a pin. An example of a valuable conscious experience is the sensation of warmth associated with sitting near a fire during a cold winter day, together with the way that my brain processes the situation and enjoys it.
These things appears to me subtlety distinct from the feeling of inner awareness called ‘consciousness’ in this post.
A solid point.
Killing someone who isn’t (never has been, never will be) conscious is about as morally consequential as turning off a computer, closing a video game, or breaking a rock in two. :/ I’m not sure where that takes this conversation really, but it is interesting. Or maybe it’s morally nearer—smashing mannequins. Not sure where it is—there’s definitely a difference. And there’s always the possibility that a person just doesn’t know that they’re conscious. Or they’re just pretending to be asleep, or what have you. (Jaron Lanier: You can’t wake someone up who’s pretending to be asleep.)
“Paper people.”