the difficult-to-swallow idea that there isn’t a ‘fact of the matter’ as to whether a being is conscious and if so what it’s conscious of
That sums it up well. Next up, let’s consider other startling possibilities, such as: there isn’t a fact of the matter as to whether you’re reading this sentence, there isn’t a fact of the matter as to whether this planet exists, there isn’t a fact of the matter as to whether there is a fact of the matter as to whether a being is conscious…
Yeah but come on… you always-a-fact-of-the-matter-ists have some startling things to think about too, like The Exact Moment When You First Became Conscious, and the Infinitely Precise Line one can draw across the phylogenetic tree demarcating species whose members are (or may be) conscious and those which never are.
(Afterthought: Or are you some kind of panpsychist? Then your startling possibilities incude the minds of rocks...)
you always-a-fact-of-the-matter-ists have some startling things to think about too, like The Exact Moment When You First Became Conscious, and the Infinitely Precise Line one can draw across the phylogenetic tree demarcating species whose members are (or may be) conscious and those which never are
See, it’s not so hard! You just have to take the idea seriously, and stick with it. You might even have a talent for this. And here I was thinking that my labor here was in vain.
I’d just come back as a zombie.
That sums it up well. Next up, let’s consider other startling possibilities, such as: there isn’t a fact of the matter as to whether you’re reading this sentence, there isn’t a fact of the matter as to whether this planet exists, there isn’t a fact of the matter as to whether there is a fact of the matter as to whether a being is conscious…
Yeah but come on… you always-a-fact-of-the-matter-ists have some startling things to think about too, like The Exact Moment When You First Became Conscious, and the Infinitely Precise Line one can draw across the phylogenetic tree demarcating species whose members are (or may be) conscious and those which never are.
(Afterthought: Or are you some kind of panpsychist? Then your startling possibilities incude the minds of rocks...)
See, it’s not so hard! You just have to take the idea seriously, and stick with it. You might even have a talent for this. And here I was thinking that my labor here was in vain.