“You can’t wake up someone who is pretending to be asleep.”
Excellent hanging with you guys yesterday.
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This entry was written by enjoying autumn, posted on September 30, 2007 at 6:07 pm.
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5 Comments
Yo, brother. If you’re up New York way any time after Oct. 8th, let me know.
The year of the collabo-nation has begun.
Absolutely. Things are happening all of a sudden. Be up towards end of October. Will let you know.
It was awesome to see you, as well!
The quote I gave was from a talk/paper by Jaron Lanier, “You Can’t Argue with a Zombie.”
When I first read it, upon reading the very first line, I immediately knew what the whole paper was about. How? Because: (A) I’d been arguing with zombies, and (B) they’d been pretending to be asleep. You do (A) long enough, and witness (B) enough, and you’re like a match, waiting to hear the phrase.
What is pretending to be asleep? It’s that infernal unwillingness to recognize what you mean by consciousness. “It’s that thing that you are, no matter what else changes, or is even replaced, around you.” Those who pretend to be asleep are unwilling to look at it. Because if they did, their arguments would spontaneously collapse: The reality of “it” is undeniable, and demands (A) a name, and (B) an explanation. Since both are resisted, conversation is futile. “What do you mean by consciousness again? What does it *do*? What lever does it pull?”
Calling people zombies instead of people is, I think, bullshit. But I still get what you are saying and value the intention behind it.
We crossed this bridge in a loosely related way on this site a while ago:
http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2005...do-you-decide-who-doesnt-have-a-soul/
You’re arguing that certain people are zombies because they don’t agree with your definition of words. This is an extremely dangerous pathway to go down ethically. Words are *not* important: people are. The *only* value in words is in sharing with, giving to and celebrating other people.
I like this supposed quote from Napoleon I just found about consciousness:
“The extent of your consciousness is limited only by your ability to love and to embrace with your love the space around you, and all it contains. “
Love and service to others trumps the Quest for Truth at all times - simply because that IS the Truth: that is where the Quest takes you. That is the Holy Grail. There is none other. There is no grand unifying theory, no intellectual way to understand what it all means and what it’s all for: you simply must be good to one another.
The name of “it” is Love and it is a mystery. There is no explanation because there does not need to be one.