Does the "mind" even exist?

Author: Sum1hugme

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FLRW
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@RationalMadman
Maybe that's why I look like Keanu Reeves.
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@Benjamin
No - we think our qualia exist - we believe that qualia is something different than property or a duck's instinct because we perceive it - that isn't actually "knowing" that it's not a physical process nor even knowing that it exists. 
Benjamin
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@Theweakeredge
No - we think our qualia exist 
You are saying that the brain thinks that qualia exist. In other words, you say that the movements of atoms in our brains create qualia (or at least the illusion of it.



Let's say there is a brain with a property: thinking

Also, there is a computer simulating a brain with a property: thinking

Both the biological and the simulated brain think the same way. However, everything from the materials to the way they process information is different. Does the computer perceive qualia because it "thinks" it has qualia? If that is the case, then your argument from chemistry falls apart. However, if the computer brain doesn't perceive qualia, then qualia isn't merely an illusion brought about by "thinking" it exists.

My point:
  • IF qualia is an illusion, THEN a computer can have qualia
  • IF a computer can have qualia, THEN qualia isn't a property of chemistry


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@Benjamin
No... you have made a false dichotomy, simply because you can arrive at the same conclusion in multiple ways does not mean that one of the ways are neccessarily false. For example, in a doublt cross section (let's say a store) - you can arrive at the end of the path by going straight twice, but you can also go right, up, left, and up again, and arrive at the same place. The mere fact that you can also arrive at perceived qualia by mechanics does not mean that qualia cannot emerge from chemistry.
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@Benjamin
From the standpoint of introspection, the existence of qualia seems indisputable. It has, however, proved remarkably difficult to accommodate qualia within a physicalist account of the mind. Many philosophers have argued that qualia cannot be identified with or reduced to anything physical, and that any attempted explanation of the world in solely physicalist terms would leave qualia out.