A new way to determine the role consciousness plays

[MattMVS7]

Many people have questions in regards to what consciousness is and what role it plays. I think a good way to answer one of these questions is by seeing how the brain responds in regards to consciousness. What I mean by this is asking people questions. For example, many altruistic people would be willing to give up their own consciousness and become biological machines if it meant helping others out more in life and accomplishing other selfless endeavors to a higher degree. However, if you were to ask a self-centered individual if he/she would be willing to give up his/her own consciousness if it meant him/her getting more of what he/she wanted in life whether it be power, fame, or success, then I bet most of these people would say they would never give up their own consciousness. They would say that they wish to enjoy their fame, power, and success and that there would be no point in them getting what they wanted if they could not enjoy it.

If it's not for the enjoyment, then it would be for some type of beautiful experience such as merely being aware that he/she has those things he/she wanted in life. These people would report that there would simply be no point in them getting what they want in life as nothing more than biological machines with no inner experience. Therefore, it seems as though consciousness serves some sort of selfish purpose because those who are not selfish would be willing to give up their own consciousness for the sake of helping others as well as other selfless endeavors. However, I am going to take it a step further here. According to the materialistic worldview that skeptics hold, our selfish endeavors serve a survival purpose. They enhance our chance for survival. Therefore, according to this worldview, consciousness would have evolved to enhance our chance for survival since, according to my post, it serves a selfish purpose.

But if consciousness really is about enhancing our chance for survival and nothing more, then you would not expect what it is I am about to explain. So, let me explain. If I asked one of these selfish people whether they would be willing to give up their own consciousness if it meant their own survival being enhanced exponentially somehow, then I bet they would still say that they would not give up their own consciousness. But this isn't how the brain should respond because, if being selfish is all about enhancing our survival, then these selfish people should be willing to give up their own consciousness in such a scenario. This says to me that consciousness serves a selfish purpose that transcends the mere enhancing of our survival. In other words, there is something "more" to consciousness than what the skeptics make it out to be.

Lastly, what I meant by consciousness would be experience. It is our inner world of experience. Besides, if consciousness is nothing more than just knowing things, then, since knowing things enhances our chance for survival, you would expect these selfish people to give up their own consciousness in the scenario I posited in my paragraph above. Yet, they still wouldn't. I also said that consciousness serves a selfish purpose. But I am not implying that all people are selfish here. What I am saying here is that, even if you were the most altruistic person in the world, that consciousness has evolved for a selfish purpose that transcends the mere enhancing of our survival.

[Phi for All]

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Moderator Note

There's far too much guesswork and only a passing nod towards biology in this post to stay in this mainstream section. I can move it to Speculations, but you'll have to find some evidence to support your stance.

 

Or I can lock it, your choice. We don't do guesswork here.

[MattMVS7]

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Moderator Note

There's far too much guesswork and only a passing nod towards biology in this post to stay in this mainstream section. I can move it to Speculations, but you'll have to find some evidence to support your stance.

 

Or I can lock it, your choice. We don't do guesswork here.

 

Go ahead and move it to the Speculations section.