They “exist in a special way,” which is to say, ultimately, not at all.
Compare: "one would have to meditate on the absurdity of quantum wave particles killing/eating/avoiding/procreating with, other quantum-wave particles". Those terms describe emergent properties that quantum particles don't have, that doesn't prevent them from properly referring to large scale (in relation to the quantum scale) properties of objects (made of quantum particles, like animals) that I presume you'd have no problem talking about. — gurugeorge
The idea is that the whole body/brain is a moist robot/control system, — gurugeorge
it's still up in the air, — gurugeorge
Of course he says mind is unreal. That’s his entire shtick. Searle and Nagel said his first book should be called ‘Consciousness Ignored.’ No kidding. — Wayfarer
So what is asking questions of each other, molecules? And what are molecules comprised of? It's so just waves. — Rich
Eh, I give up, I just tried to explain that in the passage you quoted there, if you're not going to engage with the argument there's no point carrying on. — gurugeorge
I think I understand why this response keeps cropping up though, there is a gap in Dennett's explanation, and it's related to the idea of the "Hard Problem" and thought experiments like P-Zombies, etc. — gurugeorge
Yes, just a small gap like how the heck the whole thing happened and is still happening? — Rich
"God gave us free will". — WISDOMfromPO-MO
the problem of subjective consciousness — gurugeorge
But that's not the same thing as mind in the sense of the controller of an organism's actions. — gurugeorge
Anything that's to do with physical doings of the body - which is to say, speaking, acting, etc., is explainable as the brain tugging on various strings — gurugeorge
Then what is making the decisions? The bot? How did that happen? — Rich
How does a computer or a robot "decide" which move to make next in a game of chess? — gurugeorge
It's clear that computers can be programmed to make decisions in a very real sense — gurugeorge
decision-making machinery has gradually evolved over very long periods of time (via differential selection and reproduction) in living creatures, only it's not made of silicon but of neurons, fat, hormones, etc. Hence, "moist robot." — gurugeorge
As I said, the key difficulty is simply about the subjective aspect of consciousness - the objective view is unproblematic, either for science or for religion. — gurugeorge
Who or what is programming humans? — Rich
So it just happened over a long period of time? Any theory other than this? — Rich
Exactly, the only problem it's how life as we experienced it developed. — Rich
Do you not understand the theory of evolution? Roughly speaking: — gurugeorge
Sure I do. — Rich
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