Let's suppose you have a human being, a person. That person believes she is conscious.
Now, it seems there's no way she could prove that to anyone else. Hence, solipsism.
Fortunately, anyone can know he/she is conscious. Cogito, ergo sum and all that. You can prove to yourself that you are "conscious".
But can you prove to anyone else that you can actually do that ? If you were just a philosophical zombie, then of course you'd pretend to be conscious too.
Do you even know for sure what it means to be conscious ? Are you sure you are, actually conscious ?
Think twice. What is it you're basing your belief upon ? A definition of consciousness ? A definite, scientific test that can discriminate consciousness ? The inner feeling of consciousness ?
Probably the latter. Now, what makes you think this feeling is genuine ? Have any way to really check ? What if you were actually just telling yourself that, cheating yourself into telling, not just your surrounding, but also, your very self, that you were conscious; you zombie !
And even if the feeling were to be genuine, can you be sure it's really consciousness ? Maybe you're mistaken, and the REAL feeling of consciousness is something else, while what you're experiencing is, well, not that.
What if this was the future (or soviet russia), and you were an upload, and while you had a feeling that you were conscious, it wouldn't be the real thing, merely a crafty eszatz, as would you, made in such a way as to not notice the difference from the standpoint of your inner feelings alone.
Would it be safe to go a bit further, and check if you were really conscious, no matter what you thought ? To find a true, scientific way of proving that you were conscious or not, if such a thing made sense to begin with ? To do that no matter what, soulless automaton, or genuine sophont ? And if you can't ever be sure then, why be so sure now too ? Shouldn't it be the task of anyone who believes in his own state of being conscious, and who believes this state is something important, to check if he actually IS into that state, before even acting in such a way as to preserve it ?
You'd believe you were conscious ...and at last, you'd be RIGHT in believing so. If that is ever possible of course.
Edited by vyntager, 22 December 2008 - 10:42 PM.