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Uh, unless you're a philosophical zombie, you have direct proof that consciousness exists. On a level that isn't directly explainable from our current understanding of the brain.
I don't have any proof that anyone else is conscious. For all I know, it's possible that everyone else is just a biological automaton. (although occam's razor suggests otherwise)
But I do experience my own existence and awareness. So because of that, I'm 100% certain that consciousness is a real thing, more certain than I am of literally anything else existing.
I'd like to clarify that it doesn't mean that free will exists, and doesn't suggest whether consciousness is emergent, separate, or universal. But it definitely exists beyond just being some observable collection of behaviours.
Yes you do. we all do. But is your self-awareness of that fact merely a function of your synapses responding to stimuli in a predictable way?
In other words, is "I think therefore I am" just another biological response to stimuli rather than something philosophically greater than those "observable collection of behaviours" as you describe them.
I'd argue that no, it isn't.
We are "aware" for the same reason that we pull our hand away from a hot stove burner; neural response to external stimuli.
It's not that we are "programmed", as you describe. It's simply that (I believe) our self-awareness is a biological function, not an existential one.