this post was submitted on 06 May 2026
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Yeah, the definition of "conscious" really is a puzzle. My guess is that the "nothing is conscious" model has a great deal of crossover with the "free will doesn't exist" one; for both of those, I don't consider them useful models even if they end up being true: if I'm not actually conscious and just think I am, I might as well behave as though I am.
Regardless, we really do need to define what exactly we mean by "conscious" before we can have a meaningful discussion about it. Where's Socrates when we need him?
Within a complex enough system the difference becomes functionally meaningless anyway, We could re-configure all matter (except you) in the universe into one giga computer and it would still struggle to accurately predict your behaviour beyond a few minutes because the physical system of your brain is just that chaotic. So wether we're concious or not, or have free will or not ultimately makes no difference.