Hate to be a contrarian (not really), but even were we the fevered fantasy of a unicorn called Brian, our suffering would still be real.
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In what sense? Only to Brian. I am currently imagining poking you with a cattle prod. Was your suffering real? *does it again*
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OK, suppose we are actually part of a computer simulation, and reality was not what we thought it was. As long as we have sentience, our suffering is real, no matter how confused we are about the external reality.
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OK but if we're made up by unicorn named Brian, it's fairly unlikely we have sentience. I get it tho. *pokes you with cattle prod again anyway*
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Whether we live in reality or are the screen saver for some megacomputer in an accounting department in an alien universe, we live here and must react as such. Science can not answer the question, what is human? It might approximate the pain point in development, or consciousness
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Science can only answer qualitative questions, not qualitative ones. If you decide pain (or pleasure) is the change point of humanity, then rely on science to tell you where that is, then you've made a human decision, not a scientific one. Science can only point on a graph.
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Yes, caring about suffering is a human ethical decision. Science can only tell us how it works. I don't even know what you're arguing against any more. I'm going to leave it here.
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Thanks for chatting it out. Have a good one.
End of conversation
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More of Jordan's "no true reality" stuff at play
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I find it amazing how some people bring up the "science will change" argument with the sure expectation that their ideas will be confirmed. It doesn't seem to occur to them that it could go either way, by their own logic.
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