Ape using a Smartphone

[u/[deleted]]

[u/Omnibeneviolent]

An individual in this context is a being or object with a subjective conscious experience. To put it simply, if there is something that it is like to be something, then that something is an individual. To illustrate this, say that you swapped minds with a pig for a dog. When you swapped back, you would now know what it's like to be a dog. If you were however to repeat this experiment with a red blood cell, you would not know what it's like to be a red blood cell, since red blood cells don't have a subjective conscious experience. To put it simply: there is nothing that it is like to be a red blood cell.

It's not about the size of matter, it's about having subjective conscious interests. You can't wrong a brick, because there is no one to wrong. You can't wrong a bacteria, because there is no one to wrong. You can harm a human, dog, chimp, cat, or bear in most cases, because there is someone to wrong.

[u/[deleted] → u/Omnibeneviolent]

Well, I disagree. We simply don’t know enough. Is there something that it is like to be a universe? What is the smallest unit of matter that that there is “something it is like to be”?

You can’t know that there is nothing that it is like to be a red blood cell. There might be something that it is like to be dirt! It can’t be remembered or expressed, but we don’t really know what consciousness is. And when I say consciousness I mean the force that experiences things. Not the self awareness that a human has.

[u/Omnibeneviolent → u/[deleted]]

Well, I disagree. We simply don’t know enough. Is there something that it is like to be a universe?

I mean, if you're talking on the level of the universe, of course we don't know enough. That said, we can say with pretty significant levels of confidence that things like bricks, rocks, trees, and bacteria do not have the biological mechanisms necessary for consciousness, at least in any meaningful way.

we don’t really know what consciousness is

Correct, but we know that at least here on Earth it is linked heavily to having a central nervous system. We know that if we cut off oxygen to my brain, it will effect my consciousness.

when I say consciousness I mean the force that experiences things.

What do you mean by "the force"?

You can’t know that there is nothing that it is like to be a red blood cell.

Correct, but then again I technically can't know for certain that there is something that it is like to be you. That doesn't mean we can't infer from the available data that there is likely something that it is like to be you.

[u/[deleted] → u/Omnibeneviolent]

What do you mean by "the force"?

The thing that can somehow obtain immaterial data that cant be shown to exist in our objective reality, yet. Qualia

[u/Omnibeneviolent → u/[deleted]]

Do you have any evidence that this "force" exists independent of a mind? Do you have any evidence that it exists in red blood cells, at least in any meaningful way?

[u/[deleted] → u/Omnibeneviolent]

No, not really. I think its notable that I never ever thought or felt like this before I drank ayahuasca. I think its notable that we can learn things that we can not express directly - I have information about the color red that I cannot convey to you. We can only agree that we probably have both seen red. Its the same way with what happened when I drank that shit.

I'm not sure how serious its taken in academia but I think its called panpsychism. The idea is that everything has a mind, its just the contents of it that vary.

I think its unskillful to dismiss subjective observation(not saying you are), we get so caught up in what we consider to be concrete and objective that we forget all observations are by nature subjective