Conversations about consciousness always wind me up because as soon as you ask them to define consciousness, nobody can come up with a measurable definition

[–] N0body@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I think, therefore I am.

Consciousness is what both observes and chooses. It’s discernment and will. Though measuring that objectively is obviously an issue.

[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

If you dont know how to measure it, then you dont actually know what consciousness is.

[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

That's bcz we have no idea what consciousness actually is. The harder you try to define it the less certain you are likly to be.

[–] m_f@discuss.online 4 points 2 days ago

It's frustrating reading discussion about AI, because 90%+ of it is just people without any measurable definition of terms like "consciousness" or "intelligence" or "knowledge" talking past each other.

I actually think "consciousness" is easily definable as soon as you realize the question isn't "Is X conscious?", it's "What is X conscious of?", which in turn means "What is included in the world model of X?".

[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The subjective experience. The sequence of qualia which represents our internal state.

[–] hera@feddit.uk 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

But that doesn't mean anything if you can't measure it. It may as well not exist. How can you tell something is having a subjective experience? How can you tell if something is experiencing "qualia"? You can't.

[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

Well, I know that at least one subjective experience exists, mine. The inability to measure it is precisely why it's such a difficult topic.