To Phenomenal Graffiti-
I appreciate all the kind words. I have never read Chalmers as I do not have much background in philosophy; I have only taken one class at my university (it was the best class I ever took). Referring to the existence of God, I agree that there is simply no way of knowing whether God exists or doesn’t. There is no difference (other than ideologies) between an Atheist and a believer in God. They are both forced to believe something. I think the only logical answer one can give when asked whether God exists is “I don’t know”.
The argument between you and Matt was very fascinating. I’m not to sure where I stand regarding the relationship between consciousness and the physical world. Matt made a good point when he stated that there need to be stimuli in order to have consciousness. I cannot think if there is nothing to think about. You broke down the choices very nicely (functional incantationism and Fundamentalism of the psychological) Both options are perfectly logical. I am leaning toward the second of the two choices at the moment. Mainly because it offers a perspective on what immortality would be.
I think I need to explain how I came to my previous sentence’s conclusion. I hope you are familiar with the impossibility of descerning personal identity, i.e what makes who you are today the same person you were ten minutes ago, or ten years ago. If you’re not, I can briefly summarize them for you. For the sake of time, I will assume that you do.
Because who we are as individuals is intangible (we cannnot trace what makes us the same throughout time) it is possible that we will not be immortal as individuals. Rather, when we die, we would go back to the “original” conscious that has existed since the beginning of the universe. If physical incantationism were true, then there would be no such thing as immortality. Our consciousness would cease when the stimuli of the physical world did. Like you stated, both options are viable. I would like to believe in immortality, the second option atleast offers that possibilty. But then again, the most logical answer would be “I don’t know”.
What I find interesting about these topics, is that everyone feels the need to take a side. “Am I going to be an Atheist or a Christian? A Functional Incantationist or Fundalmentalist of the Psychological?” No one appears to be able to live with uncertainty. I too have a nagging desire to pick a side. I wish I could just throw down all of my reasoning and just “believe in God”. I think life would be a lot easier. But I am forced to choose between two unknowables or to not choose at all. Not choosing at all seems to be the most logical answer, but also the most lonely one. Perhaps that is why everyone chooses a side.
I hope you keep posting here Phenomenal Graffiti, you have intelligent and well researched beliefs.