The "hard problem" of consciousness

[Dipintus]

Hard problem of consciousness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In short: how and why does subjective experience arise? Is it reducible to known physics or are we missing some piece of the puzzle?

As an atheist, I'm surprised from how many of my ilk react when the subject is mentioned. I suspect the most aggressive ones I've spoken to were downright unable to understand it. Ironically, Dawkins of all people seems to consider this question the most interesting one in science:
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Richard Dawkins - Subjective Consciousness - YouTube

 

[Meow Mix]

I agree that it's an interesting topic. I'm not convinced that there is really a "hard problem" though. To have a hard problem, there must be at least a rough understanding of mechanisms and then some contradiction between those mechanisms and some outcome. That isn't the case: we're only just beginning to understand the possible mechanisms behind consciousness, so we can't yet have a "hard problem."

I lean towards Dennet's suggestion that as we learn more about the nature of emergent properties in the brain that there will be no "hard problem" at all. Until then, though, it's just a matter of awaiting research into the subject.

 

[Dipintus]

I agree we don't yet know enough to draw any conclusion. Personally, while I consider Dennet's viewpoint perfectly reasonable, I wasn't convinced by his arguments:
I feel as if he redefined consciousness in a way that allowed him to ignore the problem instead of demonstrating it doesn't exist.

 

[Iti oj]

I don't see a problem at all either. What's so special about awarness that it can't arise naturaly?naturally

 

[Dipintus]

While I do believe conscious experiece to be the result of a natural process, at the moment we still have no idea of what said process is.

Here is a rather incomplete explanation: we see a red figure. We do so because the light bounces on the figure and stimulates our eyes in such way that they send a signal to our brain, that interprets it as red. Point is, the color red has no independent existence outside our brain. So how does our brain create this "placeholder"?

At the moment, we don't have an explanation. This is the problem of consciousness - wether it is "hard" (unsolvable by our current science) or not is up to discussion, but for now there is no definite answer or consensus, though a number of theories have been put forward.

Also, I have a related question about Dennet for whoever who may answer it: his position was that even if there is no such thing as qualia we still would not be philosophical zombies, right?