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<?php
$title = "On The Hard Problem";
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require($_SERVER["DOCUMENT_ROOT"] . "/header.php");
?>
<p>
The phrase "Hard Problem of Consciousness" was coined in 1994, and is the subject of no small controversy.
It is something that
I have attempted to create a satisfactory explanation for over most of my life, to constant frustration. I am writing
this article now, not because I have solved the problem, but because I have failed to solve the problem enough times
that I am confident I can clearly describe its exact nature. It is in this description of the very nature of the
problem that many authors begin to introduce confusion; through a careful propositional structuring of my argument, I
intend to avoid this error, and to then convince the reader that my specific interpretation of the hard problem is both
the only reasonable belief, and intrinsically, fatally flawed. In doing so, I hope to enable the reader to share in my
frustration as it concerns this unsolveable problem.
</p>
<h2>Analogy</h2>
<p>
Consider reading my essay concerning <a href="analogy.php">analogies</a> prior to continuing this article.
</p>
<h2>The Brain</h2>
<p>
Defining consciousness is itself no easy task. The term has been used by various authors in various ways, and each of
these definitions introduces additional ambiguity. To define exactly what I mean in referring to consciousness, we must
first reach an understanding of the <i>scope</i> of the term. Consciousness, as I will use the term, appears to be closely
related to the human brain--and so I say that its scope, as far as we are concerned, is limited to complex systems. A complex
system may be described as any sufficiently large set of physical objects that interact frequently,
and that have been <i>designed</i>, either by intention or by circumstance, to perform some task. In the case of the human brain,
that task is of course reproduction and survival. To accomplish that task, the brain must receive sensory information,
process it, and, based on the result of that processing, control the body. This process can be modelled at the highest level in
psychology, at a lower level in biology, and at the lowest level by physics. At the lowest level, the brain is acting in a
(excluding quantum nondeterminism) deterministic manner, defined by the basic interaction of carefully arranged molecules.
It is the opinion of some authors that this description of the brain minimizes human agency. I reject this--human agency
is itself a product of the process I have described, and cannot be minimized by a description of its origin. The reason for
this concern can likely be ascribed to the long-standing belief in some form of <i>soul</i>, or other intangible, immeasurable
entity separate from the mechanical processes of the brain.
</p>
<h2>The Soul</h2>
<p>
The soul, spirit, or anima is typically taken to be the entity which contains or defines a person's individual nature.
The soul is necessarily quantized, perhaps being able to be created or destroyed but never subdivided, and non-fungible,
each being unique in some form. While brain cells may die and the body may change, the soul is a persistent, non-mutable
identity. The exact purpose, origin, and location of the soul varies by interpretation. Whether it is responsible for will,
or godliness; created at conception, or repurposed, from some prior incarnation in rebirth; or whether it is located in the
heart, or in the pineal gland--the soul is a concept that has been invented by multiple independant cultures over
human history, and is deeply important to the philosophy and religion of a significant portion of those alive today.
</p>
<h2>The Problem</h2>
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