Materialism has not explained consciousness. — RogueAI

If that's required then I have no particular problem with jettisoning consciousness.

Really? Why would you want to lose consciousness? Life would be very boring...

How do you know I'm not an AI?

I don't.

Nevertheless, I have different ways of considering the situation. You could be an AI and you'd be, by far, the smartest AI I've ever seen. Or, you could be a person, like other people I know in real life, who also use computers to do many things, including, writing in forums.

I could be an AI. But before I ever heard of AI or anything of this sort, I knew I was a person, like anyone else. We could then discuss the peculiarities of the word "know" and not go very far.

But you could also be a figment of my imagination or I one of yours. Maybe but unlikely.

Hypothetically, if it's unfair to say a thermostat in an activated and autonomous state is really analogous to an organism in a vital and conscious state, then by what reason are either vitality or consciousness not 'merely verbal' conceptual expressions of situated human exceptionalism?

If that's required then I have no particular problem with jettisoning consciousness.

Required for what?

That materialism should explain consciousness.

That materialism should explain consciousness.

I'm confused about whatever point you're trying to make. Are you saying materialism shouldn't explain consciousness?

↪Manuel Hypothetically, if it's unfair to say a thermostat in an activated and autonomous state is really analogous to an organism in a vital and conscious state, then by what reason are either vitality or consciousness not 'merely verbal' conceptual expressions of situated human exceptionalism? — Zophie

Well I can't express myself in this context absent words. Sure, I could use memes or emoticons but that would be a little hard.

Permit me to dramatize the situation a bit, to make the issue vivid: the difference between smashing a thermostat and killing a person in relation to consciousness doesn't look merely verbal nor a case of human exceptionalism.

I'm confused about whatever point you're trying to make. — RogueAI

You're expecting binary answers from a relativist about a noun named 'consciousness'.

doesn't look — Manuel

I see nothing new. What do you have against thermostats, anyway? It almost seems cruel to smash them.

"Cruel" tends to imply suffering of some kind. But if forced to choose between a thermostat and a person, I wouldn't see the problem in choosing at all. Likewise between a thermostat and a dog or a bird or a lizard.

If you then ask if I had to choose between thermostat or a silver coin, I couldn't make a distinction. I'm sure someone would argue they have equal value.

At least that's how consciousness seems to me. And sure, I'm almost certainly espousing some kind of human exceptionalism. But I'm human, or so I think.

You're expecting binary answers from a relativist about a noun named 'consciousness'

You should be able to articulate your points clearly, no matter what belief systems you have.