How are my dead relatives in the tv?
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“How are my dead relatives in the tv?” is an analogy for the purpose of helping in understanding why we do not yet know how consciousness is created.
The hard problem of consciousness is the problem of trying to understand and then to explain how the complex functioning of matter that occurs in the brain produces subjective experiences that people have in their lives. Matter is not like imagination. If consciousness is the complex functioning of matter that produces levels upon levels of emergent properties and processes, it is going to take a great deal of study, thinking, hypothesising, experimenting, then tying the pieces together into a coherent understandable predictive theory. Even then it is likely only a few, if any, will understand the complete picture of how functioning matter produces consciousness. An analogy “How are my dead relatives in the tv?“ may give an example of the problem.
Imagine being a roman living in Rome two thousand years ago and for the first time seeing a tv with pictures and sound. He would have no idea how the tv works. He would be amazed that there can be people inside this tv. These people can be at most just inches wide on a modern flat screen tv. He can see things on the tv that he never even has fantasize about. Now imagine that videos of loved ones and friends were taken before their deaths. The roman not knowing about the taking of pictures and videos would not know how his loved ones are now in the tv even though they appear to be alive and healthy. But they are not communicating with him in any way. It is as if they do not see him. Consider what he might be thinking about. His loved one’s appear to be alive but only in a window like box structure that is not big enough to hold them. It is very likely this person is very confused. A modern person would not likely have any cognitive disfunction with this experience because they have many experiences with tvs and what they can do and the making and use of videos. The modern person knows that these dead loved ones are not alive nor in another after world even though they look alive and well.
We can further complicate this situation by connecting it up with AI device that can actually construct these loved one’s moving and talking even having a conversation with this roman. This AI could even know correct information about these dead loved one’s thus being able to carry on what would seem like a normal everyday conservation. Since it is an AI, not the real loved one’s communicating with this person, the AI could give any story about their lives in this afterlife world that it wishes. A modern person could understand that this is not reality. The roman would think it was supernatural or magical. He would have no idea that it is a technological achievement based on many layers of emergent properties of matter and energy. Now imagine a further step where an AI is generating new videos where there can be modification of the loved one’s looks and behavior. It is easy to add to the confusion of the roman by having more than one tv on at the same time showing the loved one’s doing many different things at the same time. Not only are there dead relatives existing in another world that he can see and talk to, there now seems to be many different versions of each relative doing many different things at the same time. Now even more bizarre realities can be created for the loved ones to exist in. The AI could have them grow wings and then fly around or turn into demons or other creatures. They could be seen having magical powers, acting like a roman god or even breaking laws of logic.
How long would it take for this roman to understand what is going on with the tvs and his loved one’s? He is not likely to figure out what is happening because he does not have an understanding of the scientific method. Understanding the science and technology involved in this physical event is very complicated. It is much easier to explain what is happening with stories about supernatural entities and proposals.
We can imagine this whole event happening at more modern times with more scientifically educated persons. They are frequently still likely to need supernatural explanations for what they experience as well in many cases. It is likely that there are many people that can be fooled, even today, into thinking that there are supernatural events occurring as they are actually having a conversations with their dead relatives. Especially when these loved one’s are explaining that they are in a supernatural afterworld and this device allows them to communicate with the living. When actually the AI is just creating this fake supernatural afterdeath world.
Understanding how the functioning of the brain produces consciousness for modern day philosophers and scientists is likely easier than the roman of even people a hundred years ago figuring how their dead relatives are having a knowable conversation with them while inside a (different world)/tv.