I think we should get rid of the confused term “phenomenal consciousness” and adopt a hard materialist/functionalist/behavioralist perspective, which is nowadays known as illusionism. Instead of consciousness, we should look for systems for pain and pleasure—that’s what we really care about! This text by Brian Tomasik explains it well:
It suggests that “we stop thinking in terms of “conscious” and “unconscious” and instead look at physical systems for what they are and what they can do. This perspective dissolves some biases in our usual perspective and shows us that the world is not composed of conscious minds moving through unconscious matter, but rather, the world is a unified whole, with some sub-processes being more fancy and self-reflective than others.”
Simply put, “consciousness is as consciousness does”.
I think we should get rid of the confused term “phenomenal consciousness” and adopt a hard materialist/functionalist/behavioralist perspective, which is nowadays known as illusionism. Instead of consciousness, we should look for systems for pain and pleasure—that’s what we really care about! This text by Brian Tomasik explains it well:
https://longtermrisk.org/the-eliminativist-approach-to-consciousness/
It suggests that “we stop thinking in terms of “conscious” and “unconscious” and instead look at physical systems for what they are and what they can do. This perspective dissolves some biases in our usual perspective and shows us that the world is not composed of conscious minds moving through unconscious matter, but rather, the world is a unified whole, with some sub-processes being more fancy and self-reflective than others.”
Simply put, “consciousness is as consciousness does”.
I don’t think illusionism is an accurate view, so I’d be opposed to adopting it.