Cool. I’d be interested in hearing about the issue you find with it. I admit he’s singing to the chorus when I’m reading it, impacting my criticality
For what it’s worth I’ve exchanges a couple emails with Abundis, he doesn’t think much of my essay either, though I think his impression was that I had dreams of “publishing” my essay and was looking for a review. Which I was not. Though he offered a Zoom session so we could talk. I’ve taken a raincheck, figuring I need to finish the essay first. No matter how long that monster is going to take me, still I need to take a break from that and get caught up on my reality of choirs around here, we are in transition into winter and wood stove season, and I have some catching up to do.
I understand the outlines fairly well, gosh I’ve been familiarizing myself with his ideas since they made the headlines in the late '90s - Sure I do not understand all the linguistic gymnastics that Chalmers is a world class player at. But I don’t see where I need to read every excruciating detail of his imagination - to appreciate that it is fundamentally disconnected from physical reality.
To a non philosopher Chalmers comes across belonging to the mindscape of our imagination and the kingdom of words.
What I do understand a bit better than the philosophy is the science through an evolutionary lens thanks to a life long engaged curiosity. Along with the working principle: “doing the best we can with what we have.”
Consciousness is extra special, mysterious, and hard to nail down. Many fold more difficult than conceptualizing the electricity that is generated when moving a magnet against iron - then dies as soon as we stop the motion. Also still not fully understood - but we’re okay with that gap.
I’m convinced the fundamental starting point for grasping consciousness requires first getting straight on the physical reality - human mind divide. Just as there is a divide between that lightening in the sky or racing through wires, and physical objects. Still in both cases there’s little doubt remaining that those emanations were produced by physical objects.
But we are expecting consciousness to be as accessible as the physical world has been to us. Seems to me an impossible dream. Along with a counter-productive one.
Does that make any sense?
Oh incidentally, for what it’s worth, Abundis paper was originally published in 2012.