/sci/ - Science & Math

ITT we solve the hard problem of consciousness

For those who don't know basically the problem is how can feeling and perception arise from physical processes, how can interactions between particles give rise to feelings of sadness and happiness, to perceptions of sound, color, smell, heat?

For instance the release of certain molecules in the brain such as dopamine is linked to feelings of pleasure, but how can the interaction of dopamine's atoms with the rest of our brain's atoms give rise to any feeling at all?

You could say that feelings and perception are an illusion, that we have no control over our body and our brain is the one doing all the work, left to evolve according to the laws of physics, but even if it is an illusion we are still experiencing that illusion.

In order to solve the problem do we need to invoke unphysical processes, or can we explain feeling and perception as arising from interactions between particles somehow?

That might become a very relevant ethical question once we become able to make artificial intelligence nearly indiscernible from human intelligence: will that artificial intelligence experience feeling and perception just like us?