The hard problem of [consciousness and] feelings | Hacker News Reader

The hard problem of [consciousness and] feelings

dynomight.net

I wish instead of just waving a wand around saying 'because physics' the author would bother to explain more clearly what their problem with physics here is.

It’s the same point he made above in the previous discussion of the same question:

> The problem with this answer is that it’s… absurd? How could a soul change your behavior? Does it have a magical wand to push atoms around or stimulate neurons? Physics seems to prohibit this.

He’s saying that the particles in our bodies are doing what they’re gonna do based on physics, and our subjective experience of consciousness / feelings can’t make them do something different. For me, this is the main point of the article.

Feelings (emotions not sensory like touch or sight) are experienced are they not? Not the other way around. As in you observe your feelings; not you tell yourself what to feel.

So what's the problem again?

The problem is how any subjective experience relates to the physics of the particles that make up our brains.

I feel hungry and so I eat. But how did that feeling cause the result? My brain particles would have done the same thing (because physics) even if I were an unconscious zombie.

Because feeling hungry stops when you eat? Presumably your body was taught this when you were a child.

An unconscious zombie might eat but it would be eating human brains. Generally Cannibalism, especially of neural tissue, can lead to prion disease.

The part that separates us from the animals as far as I am aware is language.

Here are people that were not raised by humans, they seem to have an inability to adapt to human society if they develop past a certain age without reintegration with humans:

https://www.treehugger.com/children-who-were-raised-by-anima...

I believe Chomsky attributes recursion as a fundamental part of our language:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Noam-Chomsky/Philosophy...

And some science suggests the first humans to develop recursive language were twins and their parents couldn't really understand them:

https://phys.org/news/2019-08-recursive-language-modern-simu...

I think you’ve missed the point of the article.

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