I was a downvoter. I think the first three sections are mysterious in a way that invalidates the rest of the post. I like how he thinks in the next few sections, but it reminds me of the urban legend of the PhD student who found a lot of interesting results about a new class of mathematical objects, only to show up to their dissertation and realize only the trivial case existed. It generally isn’t productive to ask a lot of “what if?” questions before pinning down what you mean when you talk about consciousness or morality. If you can’t pin it down exactly, then go with a working definition based on a few examples that should fit that category. At the very least, apply some known examples to the “what if?” that follows. I think kbear’s comment does a pretty good job of this.
I was a downvoter. I think the first three sections are mysterious in a way that invalidates the rest of the post. I like how he thinks in the next few sections, but it reminds me of the urban legend of the PhD student who found a lot of interesting results about a new class of mathematical objects, only to show up to their dissertation and realize only the trivial case existed. It generally isn’t productive to ask a lot of “what if?” questions before pinning down what you mean when you talk about consciousness or morality. If you can’t pin it down exactly, then go with a working definition based on a few examples that should fit that category. At the very least, apply some known examples to the “what if?” that follows. I think kbear’s comment does a pretty good job of this.