# Why Philosophy Converges on the Hard Problem **URL:** \ **Category:** Philosophy of Mind\ **Created:** [September 19, 2026, 7:58pm UTC](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/t/why-philosophy-converges-on-the-hard-problem/3158 "2026-09-19T19:58:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Banno](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/www.thephilosophyforum.com/banno/32/55_2.png) [@Banno](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/u/Banno)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2026, 10:01pm UTC](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/t/why-philosophy-converges-on-the-hard-problem/3158/211 "2026-10-11T22:01:23Z")
> [@WhoKnows](#): > > I wrote as much in my last post. The very act of doing so embeds you in a community of practice. You are never alone. ---
**Author:** ![WhoKnows](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/www.thephilosophyforum.com/whoknows/32/1145_2.png) [@WhoKnows](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/u/WhoKnows)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 5:53pm UTC](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/t/why-philosophy-converges-on-the-hard-problem/3158/212 "2026-10-12T17:53:05Z")
Nor have I argued otherwise. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![WhoKnows](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/www.thephilosophyforum.com/whoknows/32/1145_2.png) [@WhoKnows](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/u/WhoKnows)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 5:53pm UTC](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/t/why-philosophy-converges-on-the-hard-problem/3158/213 "2026-10-12T17:53:58Z")
I am unsure as to why you addressed that post to me. ---
**Author:** ![j\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ab097/32.png) [@j\_j](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/u/j_j)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 5:56pm UTC](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/t/why-philosophy-converges-on-the-hard-problem/3158/214 "2026-10-12T17:56:10Z")
Late night error perhaps. Apologies for any inconvenience. ---
**Author:** ![WhoKnows](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/www.thephilosophyforum.com/whoknows/32/1145_2.png) [@WhoKnows](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/u/WhoKnows)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 6:12pm UTC](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/t/why-philosophy-converges-on-the-hard-problem/3158/215 "2026-10-12T18:12:01Z")
Sharp minds require the body rests…otherwise tangents do occur. ---
**Author:** ![Banno](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/www.thephilosophyforum.com/banno/32/55_2.png) [@Banno](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/u/Banno)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 8:56pm UTC](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/t/why-philosophy-converges-on-the-hard-problem/3158/216 "2026-10-12T20:56:39Z")
> [@WhoKnows](#): > > Nor have I argued otherwise. yet > [@WhoKnows](#): > > First-person is the default. Work it through. First person is _already_ recognising second and third person. ---
**Author:** ![Patterner](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/www.thephilosophyforum.com/patterner/32/192_2.png) [@Patterner](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/u/Patterner)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 9:48pm UTC](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/t/why-philosophy-converges-on-the-hard-problem/3158/217 "2026-10-12T21:48:01Z")
> [@invicta](#): > > Consciousness is awareness and thinking but this definition is not all for we’re still trying to understand it. Just throwing an alternative out there. 😃 I think consciousness is felt experience. Nothing more than that. Everything experiences its own existence, its own nature. In our case, we have a lot of information processing and feedback loops. We experience it as awareness and thinking. Things without our (or any) information processing systems or feedback loops can’t experiences the same things we do. ---
**Author:** ![WhoKnows](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/www.thephilosophyforum.com/whoknows/32/1145_2.png) [@WhoKnows](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/u/WhoKnows)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 10:09pm UTC](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/t/why-philosophy-converges-on-the-hard-problem/3158/218 "2026-10-12T22:09:16Z")
> [@Banno](#): > > > [@WhoKnows](#): > > > > Nor have I argued otherwise. > > yet One word and one line answers are not very productive. If you have something to say, perhaps you might like to expand on those ideas - put a bit of meat on the bone, so to speak. 🙂 > [@Banno](#): > > Work it through. First person is _already_ recognising second and third person. Look again at my post. “First Person” isn’t about **an** individual. Rather it is about what every individual experiences - unique to themselves. All are thus “first person”. Third person re both philosophy and science cannot solve the Hard Problem. Only each individual can solve it for themselves, should they chose to search for and answer the question “What Am I?” ---
**Author:** ![WhoKnows](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/www.thephilosophyforum.com/whoknows/32/1145_2.png) [@WhoKnows](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/u/WhoKnows)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 10:15pm UTC](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/t/why-philosophy-converges-on-the-hard-problem/3158/219 "2026-10-12T22:15:10Z")
> [@Patterner](#): > > Just throwing an alternative out there. 😃 I think consciousness is felt experience. Nothing more than that. Everything experiences its own existence, its own nature. In our case, we have a lot of information processing and feedback loops. We experience it as awareness and thinking. > > Things without our (or any) information processing systems or feedback loops can’t experiences the same things we do. Your alternative requires improving I think. If it was really “nothing more than that” we would be able to argue that AI is conscious/experiences being conscious. What needs to be thought about is _what exactly is the “I”/“We”_ that is doing the experiencing of this “awareness and thinking” - because AI has “a lot of information processing and feedback loops” yet has no “I”… ---
**Author:** ![Banno](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/www.thephilosophyforum.com/banno/32/55_2.png) [@Banno](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/u/Banno)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 10:19pm UTC](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/t/why-philosophy-converges-on-the-hard-problem/3158/220 "2026-10-12T22:19:41Z")
> [@WhoKnows](#): > > Rather it is about what every individual experiences - unique to themselves. Can you fill that out for us? What is it that is “unique to themselves”? Looks like qualia territory. > [@WhoKnows](#): > > One word and one line answers are not very productive. It’s not as if I haven’t laboured _that_ point quite a bit - I’d offer an AI generated summary, but I’m not allowed. try: [Nothing to do with Dennett's "Quining Qualia" - The Philosophy Forum Archive](https://archive.thephilosophyforum.com/discussions/9509-nothing-to-do-with-dennetts-quining-qualia.html) ---
**Author:** ![WhoKnows](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/www.thephilosophyforum.com/whoknows/32/1145_2.png) [@WhoKnows](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/u/WhoKnows)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 10:33pm UTC](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/t/why-philosophy-converges-on-the-hard-problem/3158/221 "2026-10-12T22:33:45Z")
> [@Banno](#): > > > [@WhoKnows](#): > > > > Rather it is about what every individual experiences - unique to themselves. > > Can you fill that out for us? It was filled out and you didn’t quote the whole sentence, which reads: _“First Person” isn’t about **an** individual. Rather it is about what every individual experiences - unique to themselves. All are thus “first person”._ You are asking me to “fill out” just a part of the whole sentence. > [@Banno](#): > > What is it that is “unique to themselves”? There own experience being human. I look at it through Expanded Simulation Theory. (EST) The simulation is designed so that not one thing is exactly the same as every other thing. This includes human beings, grains of sand, galaxies, et al. > [@Banno](#): > > Looks like qualia territory. Explains that territory. You will experience your “red” as your unique experience - just as you experience your human lifetime as unique. That is just the way it is. Community will not help you explain your unique subjective experience being human, because it cannot. THat is why I wrote: _a group cannot decide for you WHAT you are. We can of course, delegate that responsibility to any group one might name, but it makes no difference. Not in the language they choose to use, nor anything else._ _First-person is the default. Grouping is the reaction against that. Before any community - there is the first-person. Before any “we” - there is “I.” The group is a formation of individuals - not the ground of them._ So one can see I have made good effort to “fill things out” before you even asked me to do so. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Banno](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/www.thephilosophyforum.com/banno/32/55_2.png) [@Banno](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/u/Banno)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 11:12pm UTC](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/t/why-philosophy-converges-on-the-hard-problem/3158/222 "2026-10-12T23:12:42Z")
> [@WhoKnows](#): > > Rather it is about what every individual experiences - unique to themselves. And can _that_ be filled out? All we have so far is the assertion that one’s experience is unique. But you and I both see the blue sky. And after Dennett, it seems clear that qualia do not do as advertised. And so, > [@Banno](#): > > The OP begins by observe that inquiry involves a subject, goes on to equivocate on “subject”, then declares the hard problem a precondition, and asserts idealism or panpsychism by fiat. The OP has very large gaps. ---
**Author:** ![WhoKnows](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex007/user_avatar/www.thephilosophyforum.com/whoknows/32/1145_2.png) [@WhoKnows](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/u/WhoKnows)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 7:52am UTC](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/t/why-philosophy-converges-on-the-hard-problem/3158/223 "2026-10-13T07:52:57Z")
> [@Banno](#): > > But you and I both see the blue sky. Or starry nights. Yet our perspective is unique even then. Your human experience is not my human experience, right? If you seriously disagree, you can of course, state categorically why that it is not the case. [Previous page](https://www.thephilosophyforum.com/t/why-philosophy-converges-on-the-hard-problem/3158.md?page=10)