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trick-or-treatyesterday at 10:38 AM3 repliesview on HN

That's called solipsism. I went through it as a lad, I think it's not uncommon.


Replies

roncesvallesyesterday at 4:51 PM

Not really. Solipsism means only you're (certain to be) conscious. It's an epistemological thing.

I'm making a purely biological conjecture motivated by some observations. I believe some humans are definitely conscious (including of course myself, if you take my word), but that some might not be. The conscious experience may just be a phenotypic variant, like having blue eyes, eidetic memory or dyslexia.

Consider also some recent research that shows that our consciousness is only observational and gives us an illusion of control. The actual decision-making is done a split second before we perceive to have done it. That means it might be totally optional.

Consider also that we know some living creatures to definitely not have a mind for example plants, and some creatures deemed highly unlikely to have a mind such as fish and insects. And yet they "operate" just fine. Somewhere in ecology there's a boundary and yet it's not apparent just by observing behavior.

I have a corollary hypothesis which is that only young people are actually conscious. One day you go to bed and your mind never wakes up, but your body keeps on living the automaton till you actually die.

(also if you're wondering, I don't think the boundary is along racial lines)

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H8crilAyesterday at 11:16 AM

I assure you that I am not conscious (and a human, not an LLM). Therefore at least partial solipsism is true.

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randallsquaredyesterday at 12:39 PM

I think LLMs have brought it roaring back for a lot of people.

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