byrnema comments on Open Thread: January 2010 - Less Wrong

5 Post author: Kaj_Sotala 01 January 2010 05:02PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (725)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: byrnema 09 January 2010 06:14:00PM *  1 point [-]

It's a very interesting question. I think it's pretty straight-forward that 'ourselves' is a composite of 'awarenesses' with non-overlapping mutual awareness.

Some data with respect to inebriation:

  • drunk people would pass a Turing test, but the next morning when events are recalled, it feels like someone else' experiences. But then when drunk again, the experiences again feel immediate.

  • when I lived in France, most of my socialization time was spent inebriated. For years thereafter, whenever I was intoxicated, I felt like it was more natural to speak in French than English. Even now, my French vocabulary is accessible after a glass of wine.

Comment author: PhilGoetz 10 January 2010 12:24:22AM 1 point [-]

That is interesting, but not what I was trying to ask. I was trying to ask if there could be separate, smaller, less-complex, non-human consciousnesses inside every human, It seems plausible (not probable, plausible) that there are, and that we currently have no way of detecting whether that is the case.