Psy-Kosh comments on Righting a Wrong Question - Less Wrong
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Q: Why do I think there is something instead of nothing? A: Because I think I'm experiencing, well, something. Q: Why do I think I'm experiencing something?
A: uh... dang, the urge is overwelming for me to say "Because I actually am experiencing something. That's the plainest fact of all, even though evidence in favor of it seems to be at the moment the least communicable sort of evidence of them all."
argh!
So, I see at least two possibilities here:
Either I'm profoundly confused about something, causing me to seem to think that I can't possibly be experiencing the thought of thinking I'm conscious without, well... experiencing it. (I think I experience the thought that I'm consciouss? But it sure seems like I'm experiencing that thought... argh...) so either way there's some profound confusion going on in my head.
Or I'm confused partly _because_ I'm trying to think of what sort of state of affairs could result in me seeming to think I'm conscious without actually being so (I'm not talking about philosophical zombies here, I mean from the inside), and am confused because it may really be as incoherent an idea as it seems to me.
The question of free will at least "feels" solvable. That it can be broken down into more basic things. These two (why is there something instead of nothing, and what's the nature of consiousness (as in "feels like from the inside"/qualia/etc) are the Langford philosophical basilisk questions. May not have anything to do with the nature of the question itself, but seems to fry my brain any way I bang my head at it. :)