When we look at experience itself, there is no fixed “I” to be found. Boundaries between self and other aren’t innate to reality but drawn after the fact. We carve up this vast space of experience into “mine” and “yours,” but these divisions are somewhat arbitrary.
The boundaries are somewhat arbitrary, but it seems to me that if we keep going in this direction far enough, at the end of the road is equanimity with the universe being converted to paperclips. (Which would be a wrong thing in my current unenlightened opinion.) After all, there is no sharp boundary between “me” and a paperclip.
I see where you’re coming from, but my point about boundaries applies specifically within the domain of conscious experience. There’s no clear boundary between ‘you’ and ‘me’ in that space because consciousness doesn’t seem to have non-arbitrary borders. But paperclips aren’t conscious, so they don’t even exist within that domain of experience to begin with.
So while self/other distinctions might be constructed, that doesn’t mean we should erase distinctions that actually matter—like the difference between something that has subjective experience and something that doesn’t. That’s why I wouldn’t extend the same boundary-dissolving logic to a paperclip (or a rock, or a chair) in the same way I would to other conscious beings.
The boundaries are somewhat arbitrary, but it seems to me that if we keep going in this direction far enough, at the end of the road is equanimity with the universe being converted to paperclips. (Which would be a wrong thing in my current unenlightened opinion.) After all, there is no sharp boundary between “me” and a paperclip.
I see where you’re coming from, but my point about boundaries applies specifically within the domain of conscious experience. There’s no clear boundary between ‘you’ and ‘me’ in that space because consciousness doesn’t seem to have non-arbitrary borders. But paperclips aren’t conscious, so they don’t even exist within that domain of experience to begin with.
So while self/other distinctions might be constructed, that doesn’t mean we should erase distinctions that actually matter—like the difference between something that has subjective experience and something that doesn’t. That’s why I wouldn’t extend the same boundary-dissolving logic to a paperclip (or a rock, or a chair) in the same way I would to other conscious beings.
Then why don’t you know what I had for breakfast?