The hard problem of consciousness

The hard problem of consciousness refers to the difficulty of explaining why and how physical processes in the brain give rise to subjective experience. It's distinct from the easy problems of consciousness, which focus on how the brain accomplishes various functions related to consciousness, like attention, memory, or perception.

 

Here's an example to illustrate the hard problem:

Imagine a scientist named Mary. Mary is a brilliant neuroscientist who has spent her entire life studying the brain in a black and white room. She knows everything there is to know about the physical processes in the brain and how they relate to vision. But she has never seen colour.

One day, Mary exits the black and white room and sees a red rose for the first time. She can now understand all the physical details of how the rose reflects red light, how the signals travel through her optic nerves, and how her brain processes the information.

However, according to the hard problem, there's still a mystery left unexplained. Mary can now understand the physical reality of red, but she can't fully grasp what it's actually like to experience the redness of the rose. That subjective experience of qualia, the "what it is like" to see red, remains outside the realm of pure physical explanation.

This is the crux of the hard problem. Even if we have a complete understanding of the brain's physical processes, it's not clear how that explains the subjective experience of consciousness itself.

 

Summary

In our conversation today we explored various aspects of thinking and intelligence. We started by discussing the "materials" of thought, considering both the biological processes in the brain and the informational tools we use to shape our thoughts.

We then delved into the debate of whether thinking is innate or learned, acknowledging the complex interplay between our biological makeup and our experiences. We also explored the analogy of innate abilities as firmware in AI, recognizing both its strengths and limitations.

Moving on, we discussed how sensory data is organized in the brain, highlighting the role of different regions and the importance of integration for our perception of the world. We then explored the concept of common sense, explaining its functionalities and its connection to Gestalt theory in how we make sense of the world around us.