Chaos, Qualia, and Consciousness: It's time to solve the Hard Problem

[Gaylenwoof]

Originally Posted by Gaylenwoof

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There was supposedly a time in cosmological history when blue light existed, but no sentient creatures existed. So presumably there was a time when some sentient creature in the universe became the first sentient creature to experience the phenomenal feeling of blue. Could there be a theory of matter/energy that somehow predicts (in retrospect) the experience of blue based on the nature of the world prior to the existence of any sentient creatures capable of experiencing the blueness of blue? Could we use a model based on our theory to "watch" the emergence of blue qualia at some point in the evolution of the physical universe? This would be a theory of mind.

We are getting some interesting scientific evidence that might affect how we think about the infamous question about whether or not we see colors in the same way. (E.g., "Do you see blue the same way that I see blue?")

Here is a very short, simple article about some studies that might shed some light on this type of question:

"Do You See the Same Colors as Everyone Else?"
https://curiosity.com/topics/do-you-...m_medium=email

Key idea: They genetically modified a species of monkey who are red-green color blind. After the genetic modification, cone cells in the retina that see "green" are now sensitive to red. In other words, now they can see a color that they've never seen before (Kinda like the sorta thing I was talking about in the quotes above.) At the end of the article they quote a color-vision scientist concluding that we do not see colors in the same way. You might what to check out his reasoning and see what you think about his conclusion.

The study that the article refers to is here:
Colour blindness corrected by gene therapy
https://www.nature.com/news/2009/090....2009.921.html

In general, I find it interesting to consider how I would experience something like a new primary color. How do I (or my brain, or the universe, or whatever) decide what this new color will look like to me? If we can gain insight into this, I think we will get a better hold on the hard problem.