{"id":10273,"date":"2022-09-01T13:13:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-01T13:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/?p=10273"},"modified":"2023-05-10T12:04:27","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T12:04:27","slug":"am-i-a-conscious-being","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/cognitive-insights\/am-i-a-conscious-being","title":{"rendered":"Am I a Conscious Being?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It depends on the meaning of the term \u2018conscious.\u2019 Surely, I feel conscious, but that eventually proves nothing.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

See Qualia<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philosophically<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am conscious; therefore, I am.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not necessarily. There is a \u2018me-being-conscious\u2019 as a feeling, an experience. Thus, better said, there is a \u2018me-feeling<\/em>-conscious.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can one, from within this me-feeling-conscious, speak of a me and of consciousness? Yes, but me-feeling-conscious can also merely be an illusion. The only certainty is the feeling itself, which doesn\u2019t prove that my consciousness exists or that I exist even within the potential illusion. There may be just something floating somewhere as me-feeling-conscious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, me-feeling-conscious certainly doesn\u2019t prove that my consciousness exists apart from a body. It may be just another name for the activity of my body \u2015 no reduction unless if I wanted my consciousness to be something exquisitely magical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m fine without magic \u2015 no spooky consciousness.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means that, indeed, it\u2019s just another name for the activity of my body \u2015 another name stemming from another viewpoint. This way, my body is not the cause of my consciousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an analogy, you may now flex your forearm by contracting your biceps muscle (in the upper arm). When you do so, thousands of little fibers in your biceps shrink in size. Does the fibers\u2019 shrinking cause the biceps\u2019 contraction?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think about it one moment before proceeding.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer is: No, there is no causation from the fibers\u2019 action to the muscle\u2019s action. The bicep\u2019s flexing is just another viewpoint\u2019s term (looking from the outside) for what happens when the fibers contract (looking from the inside). Meanwhile, it is the same thing \u2015 two views, one action. This action causes your forearm\u2019s flexing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another example of this principle lies in thermodynamics. As you may know, there is continual movement of molecules within any substance. The scientific term for this is molecular kinetic energy. At any moment, the mean molecular kinetic energy correlates with the large-scale property of temperature. The faster the movement, the higher the temperature. Yet, the movement doesn\u2019t cause the temperature. This movement is what temperature is. Only the way of describing the phenomenon differs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same with consciousness as an experience and the movement of neurons\/synapses in your brain. In the biceps case from above, they are both \u2013 with some abstraction \u2013 the conscious decision to move your forearm. This decision causes the contraction, which causes the flexing. No conscious awareness of fibers is needed for this, nor even of bicepses. One just ‘flexes one’s forearm,’ which can be done consciously or automatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s agree that I and my consciousness exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if it\u2019s by way of speaking, for the argument, then let\u2019s talk this way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That still doesn\u2019t say what we are. It still doesn\u2019t say what it is that exists. More to the point, is there a fundamental difference between me and a non-conscious table? Otherwise asked: Am I, even in the potential illusion, just a machine that thinks to be conscious?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May consciousness be a thought like any other \u2015 from the brainy view, an active mental-neuronal pattern (MNP)<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a table could have this thought, would it be a conscious table?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about a super-A.I.?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please, don\u2019t get too confused about this. Because now comes the following question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Am I only the conscious part of my being?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real me is the total me. The \u2018total human being\u2019 \u2013 the real me \u2013 is conscious and non-conscious taken together. The conscious, self-perceived me is a tiny part of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, when saying \u201cI am aware,\u201d people usually mean that they are totally aware. Thus, the \u2018aware me\u2019 is apparently totally conscious. It seems like the total me is thus confined to the conscious part. Yet, the \u2018aware me\u2019 is only part of the real me. This contradicts itself in a few sentences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I have a non-conscious.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who has a non-conscious? My consciousness? My total human being?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or may it be the other way around: my non-conscious having me? As far as I see, most scientific data point to this being the preferred stance to comprehend who we are and why we do what we do \u2015 including me. My \u2018total human being\u2019 may be partly conscious, but even this acts as the emergence of non-conscious processing. There is no fundamental divide between both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, am I a conscious being?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the most part, at any discrete moment, no. \u201cI am aware of something\u201d means that only a part of me is consciously aware of it (if I call it so). Most of what happens in my mind happens non-consciously. I can even be non-consciously aware \u2015 on automatic pilot. The fundamental difference in consciousness between me and a table is, in a certain way, small. We are both mostly non-conscious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, a part can make a huge difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, what difference makes consciousness?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does it make all the difference or almost none?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a choice.<\/p>\n

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It depends on the meaning of the term \u2018conscious.\u2019 Surely, I feel conscious, but that eventually proves nothing. See Qualia Philosophically \u201cI am conscious; therefore, I am.\u201d Not necessarily. There is a \u2018me-being-conscious\u2019 as a feeling, an experience. Thus, better said, there is a \u2018me-feeling-conscious.\u2019 Can one, from within this me-feeling-conscious, speak of a me Read the full article…<\/a><\/p>\n

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