Indeed, we can not experience someone else’s experience because we would have to be them to do that. But my point is that, since that seems the only way to have access to consciousness, there appears to be no way to objectively know anything about it. One could argue that there may be other ways to know about consciousness besides directly experiencing it. But then the only thing we might go by are descriptions (or at least behavioral responses). Even from the most eloquent descriptions, as far as I know, nobody has ever been able to really learn anything about what it is to have a conscious experience. Hence the conjecture, that suggests: if this has not been possible despite all of our efforts, we should assume that consciousness is indeed fundamentally subjective and accept its implications. Not to stifle the debate of course, but to see where we can get from there.
Indeed, we can not experience someone else’s experience because we would have to be them to do that. But my point is that, since that seems the only way to have access to consciousness, there appears to be no way to objectively know anything about it. One could argue that there may be other ways to know about consciousness besides directly experiencing it. But then the only thing we might go by are descriptions (or at least behavioral responses). Even from the most eloquent descriptions, as far as I know, nobody has ever been able to really learn anything about what it is to have a conscious experience. Hence the conjecture, that suggests: if this has not been possible despite all of our efforts, we should assume that consciousness is indeed fundamentally subjective and accept its implications. Not to stifle the debate of course, but to see where we can get from there.