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What is it like to be a bat?

(en.wikipedia.org)
180 points adityaathalye | 2 comments | 03 Sep 25 17:48 UTC | HN request time: 0.04s | source
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scubakid ◴[03 Sep 25 18:31 UTC] No.45119000[source]▶
To me, "what is it like to be a" is more or less the intersection of sensory modalities between two systems... but I'm not sure the extent of the overlap tells you much about whether a given system is "conscious" or not.
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1. rout39574 ◴[03 Sep 25 19:09 UTC] No.45119406[source]▶
Do you really mean that it's very nearly the same thing "To be a" you, and an Elon Musk, a homo sapiens infant, and an Orangutan? And only modestly different from these to be a dog or a horse?

If I've understood you correctly, I'll suggest that simple sensory intersection is way way not enough: the processing hardware and software are material to what it is like to be someone.

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2. scubakid ◴[03 Sep 25 19:56 UTC] No.45119797[source]▶
good point, I'd agree sensors are just a piece of the picture