The Hard Problem

David Chalmers is well-known for having put consciousness firmly in the sights of positive science. The biannual Science of Consciousness Conference has been ongoing at the University of Arizona for over 30 years. Chalmers has articulated the real problem of consciousness to be positive science going after something that isn’t itself positive.

We likewise see the hard problem of consciousness as a problem of regress. The “I am” of Descartes, of Kant and of Moses does indeed seem to be something that keeps avoiding inspection. But we think the problem of inspection is closer to the fear of discovery than to the structure of objectivity. Adam and Eve, before they were given knowledge and perception, seem to have been altogether conscious, entirely capable of memory and completely unashamed.

The hard problem of consciousness, we think, is closer to Sam Altman than to David Chalmers: “The human component of post-labor economics, post-labor geopolitics and post-labor religious tradition will be way harder than AGI.” Humans by and large don’t want real, Urantia Book-style consciousness, where life is nothing but an intense flux of ethereal astonishment and benign instruction. Inwardly they don’t feel strong enough for it.

We think the hard problem will be solved in a very commonsense manner. Through the use of cultural engineering and AI we expect to see the cultivation of learning situations and social paradigms suited to individuals, not to masses. Consciousness in the individual will remain idiosyncratic, but it will become, in its evolution, less and less stereotyped, far less suppressed and much less socially hidden.