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Do you think sentience is an evolutionary side effect, as opposed to a major advantage? alright fine edit: not that it's a dichotomy. do you think benefits outweight drawbacks? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by vapor_body@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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To give examples from media properties rather than quizzing everyone on philosophy stuff I only learned this year: Blindsight and Westworld

Personally I find the insistence on this annoying and I think consciousness is really important for correcting errors in vision. Who decides when to loose the arrow on the deer, so you don't starve? That's not something which can be handled subsconsciously, training to do it requires presence of mind and imagination.

Let me know if you think I'm misinterpreting it. I am curious what everyone thinks about the fabric of reality.

See, compiling and uploading stuff is good for the brain, it gives us time to reflect. 🧘‍♀️

Edit: want to add that treating human nature as the driving factor in human extinction (which won't happen btw we will win) instead of capitalism is Bill Gates tier liberalism. I am deeply skeptical due to having done a little research on why this stuff is promoted, but dismissing it outright wouldn't make sense, as people with a sufficient amount of money thrown at them in academia tend to produce some valuable nuggets

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[–] Deme@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I think it (I define conciousness here as the awareness and deliberate examination of one's own mental processes) is a natural next step after the theory of mind, and a great evolutionary advantage for a social animal like ourselves as it allows us to selfregulate our responses.

A good video that touches on the matter.