Philosopher Philip Goff answers questions about panpsychism
Am I the only one who thinks the consciousness question is really quite easy to understand and answer?<p>The illusion of consciousness is obviously beneficial. For example, I could tell a computer, through the use of sensors, to report that it&#x27;s in pain when it&#x27;s hit. But you wouldn&#x27;t take it seriously, or care for its suffering, because it hasn&#x27;t also declared that it is under the illusion that its suffering has a kind of physical manifestation in its mind.<p>The reason we care more about animals today than in the past is because we finally began to question whether or not they had a similar sense of self as us - perhaps when we are cruel to animals they don&#x27;t just know they&#x27;re in pain and understand like a computer might that pain is bad, but their brains actually tell them they are physically feeling a sensation of pain. Similarly, I presume if an AI ever said it had a similar physical experience of pain to us then we would considering treating that AI with similar regard to that of a human.<p>If I&#x27;m correct, then an illusion of consciousness makes complete evolutionary sense. It&#x27;s not really consciousness, but a sense of self, and more importantly, a sense that there are others with a similar sense of self to our own.<p>Our consciousness is just our brains saying you&#x27;re a real thing that thinks and feels. It&#x27;s a lie our brain tells us that our pain and the pain of others is important and worth caring about.