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What is the hard problem of consciousness and why is it so hotly debated?

12/8/2019

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The “easy” problem of consciousness answers questions like the following:
  • How do we learn, store memories, or perceive things?

  • How do we know to pull our hand away from a hot stove?

  • Why do we hear our name spoken even in a noisy gathering?

The “hard” problem of consciousness asks these questions:
  • Why do all those complicated brain processes feel like anything from the inside?

  • What is the point of this kind of awareness?

  • Why aren’t we just useful robots, capable of retaining and acting on information, of responding to noises, smells and other environmental stimuli—but totally blank and dark inside, lacking an inner life?

  • How could the gelatinous, tissue inside your skull (the brain) give rise to something as mysterious as all or our experiences and feelings?

Questions like these, which blur the boundaries between science and philosophy, make some experts angry and confused because they cannot begin to answer them. Some argue that conscious sensations, such as pain, don’t really exist, no matter what we feel as we slam our finger in the door. Others argue that that plants and trees are conscious.

The Hard Problem has prompted arguments in scientific journals about what is going on in the mind of a zombie, or ask the question “What is it like to be a bat?” Some argue that the problem marks the boundary not just of what we currently know, but of what science could ever explain. On the other hand, in recent years, a handful of neuroscientists have come to believe that it may finally be solved – but only if we are willing to accept the conclusion that computers or the internet might soon become conscious, too.
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We know for certain that we have inner experience of sights, smells, touch, emotions and the rest. Some scientists say we should concede that consciousness is just the physical brain, doing what brains do. Others say that consciousness is the only thing that matters and the rest is illusion. And since no one really knows for sure, the debate goes on.
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    As a spiritual guide, healer, and lecturer, I have had the privilege to touch the lives of people who long to understand their higher selves. Please leave questions and comments for me. Hope to see you often here!

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