cosecantphi

joined 4 years ago
[–] cosecantphi@hexbear.net 1 points 5 months ago (8 children)

My thinking is that my consciousness, the set of qualia that make up my subjective experience, "what it feels like to be me", literally is the physical system that is my brain. So if my brain exists, and my brain is functioning properly, then I exist and I'm alive, experiencing the universe.

I can't see it any other way, even if two such brains exist in the same space through some weird happenstance then I guess my consciousness is in a superposition of two locations.

[–] cosecantphi@hexbear.net 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (6 children)

Simultaneity does exist in general relativity, I didn't say it didn't. I said it doesn't exist for things separated by vast distances in spacetime, and that's true. There is no simultaneity for two entities separated by an event horizon.

I don't know what consciousness, as in qualia and subjective experience are, but they seems pretty real and not a buzzword to me, it's basically all I can know for sure exists.

I brought up superposition to explain why I don't consider two mes to not both be me. Both are experiencing the universe through the processes that go on in my brain, so both are me. My consciousness is the program running in their head (yeah, I get our brains are not similar to computers, I'm just coming up with a metaphor here), why can't it be in a superposition of two locations if two conscious instances of my brain exist in the same area?

[–] cosecantphi@hexbear.net 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (8 children)

Simultaneity is actually not something that exists for objects separated by vast distances in spacetime according to general relativity. That's why I wasn't considering a spatial infinity, our observable reality is situated inside a very much spatially finite event horizon.

We know so little about how consciousness actually works that I'm personally content to say a mere clone of me existing somewhere with my memories is actually me. Shit, even if it doesn't have my memories! As long as it is close enough to being my mind. Who says the fundamental of subjective experience can't exist in superpositions just like everything else can.

I know consciousness can be interrupted without being permanently extinguished because I've been under general anaesthesia before.

[–] cosecantphi@hexbear.net 2 points 5 months ago (3 children)

That's exactly my problem with just imagining before my birth! That period of nonexistence literally ended spontaneously! I know for sure that happened once, I don't see why it can't happen again.

[–] cosecantphi@hexbear.net 2 points 5 months ago

I'm not really sure where I've done pseudoscience, I never put this forward as explanation for the way the universe works, I was just considering possibilities.

[–] cosecantphi@hexbear.net 4 points 5 months ago

With enough time and mixing, I'm sure!

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