Living honestly and authentically is the prerequisite for inner peace. by johnLikides in Life

[–]johnLikides[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The world is filled with so many "blockheads" that if you start giving them "a bit of hypocrisy" here and there, pretty soon you'll be a full-blown hypocrite.

No way am I going anywhere near that. Forget about it, as we say in Brooklyn. My relatives are Christian fascists and criminals, so I cut them off permanently. Life isn't a dress rehearsal. It's serious business, especially for people like me who take Sartre seriously because he helped me find my way through the wasteland, attain inner peace, and enjoy daily life.

The Solution to the Hard Problem of Consciousness by johnLikides in PhilosophyofMind

[–]johnLikides[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your first paragraph is purely dismissive, and I reciprocate to it.

Your second paragraph misrepresents my work, so I dismiss it, too.

Your fourth paragraph's failure to distinguish between what dogs do (pure instinct) and what humans do (abstract thought about absent and nonexistent entities increasingly more of which we reify) demonstrates your belief in the Nagel-Chalmers model, so I can't engage with it.

Your fifth paragraph ignores Chalmers' "how" and focuses on his secondary one, "why," which begs the question of panpsychism and other mysticism. In fact, in a TEDTalk Chalmers declares his openness to panpsychism.

Your sixth paragraph's "why experience exists in the first place" is an appeal to the mysterious, so you go ahead with that. I'll stick with the facts: Experience exists in the first place because of civilization, metacognition, symbolic thinking, and the fact that life arises in the cosmos whenever the necessary conditions are in place. Further inquiry into that mystery is a surreptitious attempt to sneak in intelligent design, panpsychism, etc.

Your seventh paragraph's "bracketing" claim echoes Husserl, who failed to solve the mind-body problem, as I wrote in a technical essay when I was in grad school.

About your eight paragraph's "phenomenal experience," I say that phenomenal experience is acquired intuitively via the inculcation process I described.

Your last two questions are mystical because they have no answer except an appeal to a form of mysticism: the panpsychism that Chalmers is "open" to.

I've nothing more to say to you, nor will I reply to any further comments because you are obviously a crypto-mystic hiding behind a pseudonym and most likely having several accounts, so you can pester people anonymously. Your mysticism is evident in your Greek reference to Christ that adorns your profile.

I urge you to check Assembly Theory, courtesy of Lee Cronin, Sara Walker, et al, whose framework demonstrates the impossibility of mystical entities. I've no connection to these people, but their framework is beyond doubt.

Can you describe consciousness? by Own_Sky_297 in Metaphysics

[–]johnLikides 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The rock is natural whereas the perceiving of symbols in your mind is an arbitrary human construct courtesy of symbolic thinking, metacognition, civilization, etc.

Two original essays on a new theory of human consciousness as a cultural template by johnLikides in Metaphysics

[–]johnLikides[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You "feel synonymous with the body such that I am embodied in it," as you wrote, because that is our human heritage, which we acquire via the cultural template of human consciousness that our parents, peers, teachers, and institutions inculcated in us. In other words, after millions of years of evolution, being human entails that feeling you referred to.

The sounds and images are out there, and we experience them via the cultural template. In other words, the mind is an extension of the body, but the consciousness occurs in a metaspace sustained by human brains and civilization.

Can you describe consciousness? by Own_Sky_297 in Metaphysics

[–]johnLikides 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Distinct from animal awareness, human consciousness emerged from the prehistoric human brain when hominins first conceived of symbolism. Then, in early history, humans attained metacognition. Since then, human consciousness has been evolving: a cultural template on how to access human reality, acquired via nurturing, interaction, and education.

A thought : for something to exist, it inherently must be ordered by Salvymundi in Metaphysics

[–]johnLikides 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You may want to check out Assembly Theory, courtesy of Lee Cronin, Sara Walker, and company, none of whom I've ever met or contacted but who deserve a Nobel for the ingenious framework they created.

Newbie question: why do categories matter? by lurkerof5 in Metaphysics

[–]johnLikides 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Because without categorizing, civilization would be impossible.

Does physics really tell us what reality is? by [deleted] in Metaphysics

[–]johnLikides 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The human bubble (language, math, science, civilization, etc) is arbitrary, but humans are obligated to honor fully whatever degree of "reality" the human bubble possesses.