alt Hacker NewsWe're pretty clear on the distinction between a conscious and an unconscious human.
We might not clearly understand the diff between the two states but we can certainly point to it and go "it's that".
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>We're pretty clear on the distinction between a conscious and an unconscious human.
You are using unconscious as a synonym for asleep, which is not the same thing as having no conscious experience due to dreams. We are clear on the distinction between a dead human and an alive human however.
Now discuss whether a bonobo, a dog, a cat, a mouse, an ant, a bacterium is conscious.
And you’ll find it’s not as clear cut.
Those terms are not really how we use the word "conscious" in any other situation though. With a definition like that you would say a rock is unconscious (I guess reasonable), a pretty cold bacteria is unconscious (hmm.. ok I guess?), and a warm bacteria is conscious (now I'm not on board anymore).
We have to be WAY more specific in what the word even means!
I'm not sure it's that clear. What about a person who is on drugs to the point they clearly don't know what reality is happening around them, but they are able to speak and move and such? I'm not sure I'd call that conscious, but by most definitions it is.