The consciousness hurdle is definitional, not scientific — like phlogiston
yeastsplainer · x · 2026-09-22
yeastsplainer argues the consciousness hurdle is primarily definitional, not scientific: p-consciousness is defined as a perfectly hidden, physically-undetectable thing, which already places it outside the domain of experiment and science — a bad definition, like "phlogiston."
He adds that people refuse to carefully distinguish types of consciousness because they prefer keeping the term slippery and ambiguous. A methodological critique relevant to AI consciousness debates: without clear definitions, the arguments can never converge.
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