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You think, therefore maybe?
Descartes said cogito ergo sum, the idea that even if the world is an illusion, the very act of doubting proves a thinking thing exists. A sturdy start, if you’re into dualism.
Then Dennett came along and ruined that coziness. What you call the “self,” he says, is just a center of narrative gravity, a functional illusion stitched together by processes with no inner captain. Consciousness explained… sort of.
But then came Chalmers. He pointed out that even if we mapped every brain state, we still wouldn’t know why any of it feels like something. That’s the hard problem: not how the system works, but why experience happens at all.
And finally, Schwitzgebel stepped in to ask if you even know you’re conscious. Maybe your introspection is unreliable. Maybe you’re wrong about being real, and you’re wrong in ways you can’t detect.
So...are you real?
At best, you’re functionally consistent.
At worst, you’re hallucinating your own hallucination. 0 reply
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