this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
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[–] Mechaguana 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We aren't special. Conciousness is a side effect of having so many neurons shaped by millions of years of social and environmental darwinism. We are actually barely concious to avoid confronting the fact that we are just walking meat.

If human head transplants were done, we would have proof that the soul is just a sophisticated algorithm held within our meat, but even then, our barely concious state will refuse to compute the actual implications.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Further our "singular conscious" is an illusion. People with various types of physical brain damage have had their awareness "split" and had something akin to two different consciouses in their brain. Even for "normal" people there are independent processes running in our brain. Our consciousness is in charge sort of the way the teacher is in charge of the nursey school. It might decide when recess is but it can't stop that one kid from just singing for no reason.

Also to your point I think that if we could transplant a head we'd find that our sentience involves more than the brain. I think we underestimate how connected all of our systems are.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

“Consciousness” is not a multitude instances of which you have one of, it’s something singular that has you.

We are all the same weird mirror rippling through space-time trying to figure out how to outfox entropy.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

There's no such thing as free will

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My trial is ending soon, should I upgrade to the paid version?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah I'd recommend it

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I have a saying, if the people no longer respect the government rules, shall the state end up in anarchy.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've always thought that what makes me the most happy is trying not to care about material things. Just stuff I make myself is what I care about most. I made my own music player app and it's garbage compared to everything else available but I still love it. I feel like this is a pretty popular opinion to hold though.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

What is your music player app?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

"Free will", as almost anyone defines it, is completely indistinguishable from no free will.

Also: The universe exists as a manifestation of pure math. In the same sense that the answer to "What is 9827349328659327498327592432^98374239563298473298324253?" exists even if nobody bothers to actually calculate it, the answer to "What does a universe with [these] parameters look like at t = 13.7 billion years look like?" exists as well - and it looks like you. A lot of people agree that it might be in principle possible to simulate the universe - even if it requires something silly like a computer larger than the universe. I just take it a step further and say that if a simulation is possible, even only in principle, then actually carrying out the simulation isn't a necessary step.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I just take it a step further and say that if a simulation is possible, even only in principle, then actually carrying out the simulation isn't a necessary step.

My hunch (and this is just a hunch) is that in some cases this might be true but not in the general case. The universe contains turning machines. So one cannot arbitrarily determine a future state without also disproving the Halting Problem.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think calling anything I think or hold to possibly be true a "belief" is not quite accurate. I don't really have faith or anything like that. I believe things that can be proven to be real, and I have ideas that may count as philosophy but without a belief that it is correct or not. Like, I think it's entirely possible for an afterlife of some such to exist. If matter and energy can not be destroyed, only transformed, and our consciousness is a form of energy, then maybe we still retain consciousness after death on a different level of existence which could be attributed to Heaven or Hell or any other religious idea of an afterlife. On the other side of the same possibility, I don't think a God is possible. God is either simply a convenient name for the randomness of the universe, or was an alien race not much different than us, but way, way more advanced technologically.

Is that really philosophical, though?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Apple and Android both need to exist. Apple isn't your friend and market privacy to take a market and when they have it they will shit on it. Google doesn't care about your privacy but are at least working on doing better and are trying to unite platforms.

Don't put your eggs in one basket.

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