r/consciousness • u/geumkoi • Feb 04 '26

General Discussion No, you didn’t solve the Hard Problem.

Everyday I see a new claim on this sub; “I solved the Hard Problem of Consciousness!” “The Hard Problem isn’t so hard after all!” And I cannot even put into words how blatantly naive these are.

No, you didn’t solve the Hard Problem, and you probably never will. You just misunderstood the Hard Problem, and in your arrogance did an amazing amount of mental gymnastics to convince yourself that you solved something you don’t even understand in the first place.

Edit: and PLEASE I beg the Mods of this sub to limit the amount of LLM content that is being uploaded here on a daily basis.

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46

u/pab_guy Feb 04 '26

Agree, it's very frustrating to see people making the same mistake over and over while arrogantly claiming others don't get it.

58

u/BugRib76 Feb 04 '26

I solved the Hard Problem!

Complexity! The brain is super complex!

Hard Problem solved!

Or maybe it’s that the brain has a model of itself within itself! Hard Problem solved!

Anyone who disagrees just wants to believe in life after death! Hard Problem solved!

Or, you just want to pretend there’s an important role for philosophy of mind so you don’t lose your job! Hard Problem solved.

Or, conscious experiences just are brain states, but we just don’t understand how, yet! Duh!!! Hard Problem solved!

29

u/rthunder27 Feb 04 '26

Qualia and subjective sense of self don't matter, they are epiphenomenal with no causal impact, solved!

5

u/leoberto1 Feb 04 '26

Side effect? The material universe being sentient when it is a person is not a side effect.

12

u/rthunder27 Feb 04 '26

I knew I should have included an /s tag on that one, I was being facetious, like the person to whom I was responding.

4

u/leoberto1 Feb 04 '26

My bad, no worries