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WrongBot comments on Rationality quotes: August 2010 - Less Wrong
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By experience I mean anything which we detect with one of our senses.
The subjective part is, IMHO, the key to qualia.
Suppose that you've never seen red light, and that you are then told all of its properties in perfect detail. You would still gain new information by actually seeing red light, because you still don't know "what it feels like" to see it. The qualia is not the objective facts, but rather what seeing the light "feels like", your perception of the effect produced on your brain by the light.
(Qualia are usually taken to be an argument against materialism- because after you know every objective fact about something, you still gain new information (qualia) by experiencing it.)
Well, of course a verbal description of red light is different from seeing red light. One is an auditory stimulus, and one is a visual stimulus. They do different things to my neurons. Are qualia about something other than neurons?
I voted up WrongBot's redefinition of his question, 'are qualia about something other than neurons?'. Is qualia something other than a word that has been awkwardly defined? Why is colour always the example used to illustrate qualia? Is there something different between colour and things like position, texture, pitch? Has anyone thought of a better or even different way to experience our experiences?