polymathwannabe comments on Open thread, Oct. 27 - Nov. 2, 2014 - Less Wrong

5 Post author: MrMind 27 October 2014 08:58AM

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Comment author: polymathwannabe 27 October 2014 02:18:00PM 3 points [-]

EY has declared that P-zombies are nonsense, but I've had trouble understanding his explanation. Is there any consensus on this?

Comment author: RowanE 27 October 2014 02:43:51PM *  5 points [-]

Summary of my understanding of it: P-zombies require that there be no causal connection between consciousness and, well, anything, including things p-zombie philosophers say about consciousness. If this is the case, then a non-p-zombie philosopher talking about consciousness also isn't doing so for reasons causally connected to the fact that they are conscious. To effectively say "I am conscious, but this is not the cause of my saying so, and I would still say so if I wasn't conscious" is absurd.