I’m quite fascinated by the hard problem of consciousness. Actually, I’m even more fascinated by the fact that a lot of scientifically-minded people seem to be unable to grasp it. It’s literally the first thing in front of your eyes! I see it as a very strong argument in favor of the existence of philosophical zombies. On the bright side, since some people do grasp it, it probably means I’m not the only conscious entity in the universe.

Let me define consciousness as the sum of our subjective experiences (also named qualia).

Subjective experiences come from sensations. From sensing the temperature of the wind to sensing the color red. I also see our thoughts as internal sensations.

Now, what if all sensations belong to one single dimension? A dimension that we usually call pain. Pleasure would just be the reduction of pain.

Then consciousness would be the subjective experience of pain in space and time. The sensation of the color red would be our subjective experience of (very slight) pain in a particular configuration of matter (including our brain, body) in space-time.

I’m pretty proud of my theory but I must admit that I still have no explanation for philosophical zombies. Also, is it a good thing that I’m not the only conscious one? According to my theory, dead people should be euphoric!