The 1st ed – Chapter 4

Theorem III: Qualia are Physical Phenomena

Qualia are phenomena of mental processes and results of neural processes, as discussed in section 3.4. But are they physical or non-physical phenomena and what is the exact nature of these phenomena? Regarding the first question, even though qualia are results of neural processes and thus results of physical processes, some people think that they may be a kind of non-physical phenomena, happening without physical rules, such as occurring in some people but not occurring in some people arbitrarily (unpredictably) and occurring differently among people. This kind of thinking leads to the concept of p-zombie, which is defined as “a being that is physically identical to a normal human except that it lacks qualia and conscious experiences” [1-5], and the concept of different qualia [4-6], which are qualia (of the same thing) that appear differently among people (such as the quale of color C may appear as red in some people but as blue or other colors in other people). However, others believe that qualia are physical phenomena, occurring consistently and unchangeably in people under some physical rules. Therefore, this chapter will examine whether qualia are physical phenomena or not. As for the exact nature of these phenomena, which is more difficult to ascertain, the issue will be examined in the next chapter.

4.1. Physical properties of qualia

Like mental processes, qualia have many properties. Some are physical properties, which are properties that can be tested physically; some are functional properties, which are properties that are related to their functions, such ineffable, intrinsic, and private [6], irrevocability [7], output flexibility, enduring in short-term memory [7], transparent phenomenal states, involve temporal aspect, enormous multivariability, and combinatorial capacities [8,9]. However, in order to determine what qualia physically are, it is necessary to examine their physical properties, which are as follows:

Physical properties of qualia (PQ)

PQ1. Required physical properties.

PQ1.1. Their nature is mental phenomena.

PQ1.2. Their characteristics are phenomenal and consciously experienceable.

PQ2. Observed physical properties.

PQ2.1. Their nature is non-material.

PQ2.2. Their activities are fast, dynamic, and information-intensive.

PQ2.3. Their occurrences are from and their existence is with their specific neural processes, and both are consistent.

PQ2.4. Their places of occurrences are selectively and specifically limited to some specific neural processes.

PQ2.5. Their capacities are limited and identical to those of their specific neural processes.

PQ2.6. Their details are determined by and are identical to their specific neural processes, with definiteness in their structure.

PQ2.7. Their changes are dependent on their specific neural processes.

PQ2.8. Their interactions depend on and are via their specific neural processes.

 

PQ1. Required physical properties.

Required physical properties are physical properties that qualia are required to possess by their definition. They are as follows:

   PQ1.1. Their nature is mental phenomena.

This follows from the definition of quale (section 3.1.): a quale is a mental phenomenon. Physically, because a mental phenomenon is part of a mental process and because a mental process is part of a neural process, this means that a quale must be part of a neural process.

   PQ1.2. Their characteristics are phenomenal and consciously experienceable.

This also follows from the definition of quale (section 3.1.): a quale is a mental phenomenon that has consciously experienceable phenomenal characteristics. Therefore, qualia’s characteristics must be (A) phenomenal and (B) consciously experienceable. What do these mean physically?

     (A) Phenomenal. From section 3.1, phenomenal characteristics are experiential characteristics that are unique and not describable by anything other than themselves. Physically, this means that phenomenal characteristics are something that has the following properties:

     A1. They are information about something.

     A2. They are indescribable (or ineffable).

     A3. They are unique in characteristics.

Now, let’s examine these three properties in detail.

 

   A1. They are information about something.

All phenomenal characteristics are information about something, such as

– red is information about a light,

– sound pitch is information about a sound,

– pain is information about a physical injury of tissue,

– memory is information about a past event, and

– happiness is information about a personal feeling.

   A2. They are indescribable.

Physically, this means that the consciousness neural process has no information to describe them. This requires the following two properties.

A2.1. The information that phenomenal characteristics are in A1 must be about something that is not the phenomenal characteristics themselves. For example, the phenomenal characteristic “red” (Figure 4.1) is information about the 700-nm light that it is representing, but it is not information about the phenomenal characteristic itself.

Figure 4.1 Phenomenal characteristic “red” is information about the 700-nm light.

   In other words, the phenomenal characteristic “red” describes the 700-nm light but does not describe phenomenal characteristic itself. As a result, the consciousness neural process has some information to describe the 700-nm light (i.e., describe it as red) but has no information to describe the phenomenal characteristic.

   A2.2 The phenomenal characteristics must not react with anything other than the consciousness neural process. As a result, there are no phenomena other than the experiences that they create in the consciousness neural process to yield information about them. Thus, except for the experiences of what they are like, the consciousness neural process has nothing to describe them.

Noticeably, this is different from information from other sources, such as the information of the 700-nm light from a paper, TV, or computer. This latter kind of information of the 700-nm light has the carrier (the dye, paper, TV, or computer) that yields information about itself (such as the dye, paper, TV, or computer can be seen, touched, and tested with various devices) too (see Figure 4.2), so we can describe both the 700-nm light (as red) and the carrier of the information (as the dye, paper, TV, or computer) – that is, the carrier is describable. For phenomenal characteristics, this is not the case.

Figure 4.2 Information from a physical source

 

A subtler example is the “red” information that is carried on a radio wave in TV broadcasting. Although the carrier (the radio wave) of the information is intangible and cannot be seen, it interacts with electromagnetic devices and creates phenomena that we can detect in our devices in measurable forms as frequency, amplitude, and polarity, and we can use these to describe the radio wave. But phenomenal characteristics do not react with anything else other than the consciousness neural process as discussed above, and there are no sensory receptors (or other kinds of sensors) to sense or to get information about phenomenal characteristics themselves. Overall, there is nothing that describes (give information about) phenomenal characteristics. Consequently, all phenomenal characteristics are indescribable (except for the conscious experiences that occur in the conscious neural process).

   A3. They are unique in characteristics.

When the consciousness experiences each phenomenal characteristic, it will observe that each kind (visual, auditory, emotion, thought, etc.) is unique – different from all other kinds. Physically, this means that each phenomenal characteristic is able to induce the consciousness neural process into a unique signaling state that signifies the awareness and experience of the phenomenal characteristic and that is different from all other signaling states so that the consciousness neural process observes it as unique.

Therefore, physically, it can be concluded that the phenomenal characteristics are information about something that is not themselves, do not react with anything other than the consciousness neural process, and are able to induce the consciousness neural process into unique signaling states.

   (B) Consciously experienceable. If qualia’s characteristics are consciously experienceable, then the consciousness must be able to experience them. Physically, this means that they must be readable by the consciousness neural process and that conscious experiences of them must occur – that is, they must be able to induce the consciousness neural process into the signaling states that signal* conscious experiences of themselves. But because conscious experiences always occur with conscious awareness (see section 3.2), this means that they must be able to induce the consciousness neural process into the signaling states that signal both the conscious experiences and the conscious awareness of themselves. This is a very important property. It aids in understanding the nature of qualia, conscious experiences, and how they occur.

(*“signal” means “are the information of”. Please see D6. Signaling state (SS) in the chapter Introduction and Definition for more details.)

To be noted is that this property B is different from property A3. Although property A3 states that a phenomenal characteristic is able to induce the consciousness neural process into a unique signaling state, it does not require that the signaling state must be the signaling state that signals both the conscious experience and the conscious awareness of the phenomenal characteristics.

In summary, from A1-3 and B, that a quale has consciously experienceable phenomenal characteristics physically means that a quale

  1. must be information about something (A1) that is not itself (A2),
  2. must not react with anything else other than the consciousness neural process (A2),
  3. must be able to induce the consciousness neural process into a unique signaling state (A3),
  4. must be readable by the consciousness neural process (B), and
  5. must be able to induce the consciousness neural process into the signaling state that signals the conscious experience and the conscious awareness of itself (B).

Therefore, anything that proves to be a quale must have these properties.

PQ2. Observed physical properties.

Observed physical properties are physical properties that qualia are observed to possess. They are as follows:

   PQ2.1. Their nature is non-material.

Like mental processes, qualia have never been found by any means to have mass, shape, and size. Also, another significant observation is as follows. Because qualia (such as a vision of a house in one’s mind, an emotion of happiness, and a reliving of a past event) appear and disappear suddenly and usually change their highly structured details (such as the details of a lively dynamic vision, emotion, and past event) rapidly in milliseconds and continuously (because we always look at different scenes, feel different emotions, think of different events, etc. continuously), if qualia are material phenomena, there must exist cellular machinery in the brain that is capable of forming material substances with such highly structured details and processing them at such a rapid pace (in milliseconds) continuously. But, neither such capable neural apparatuses nor material substances that can be qualia have ever been found by various kinds of brain imaging, during brain surgeries, or in pathologic studies of brain tissue. Therefore, qualia must be non-material phenomena.

   PQ2.2. Their activities are fast, dynamic, and information-intensive.

Because qualia, such as qualia of the dynamic scenes of the external world, the lively sounds in the outside world, and the actively changing thoughts, appear and disappear suddenly and usually change their highly structured details frequently and rapidly in milliseconds, their activities are dynamic and fast. Also, because qualia, such as visual images of various scenes in the external world, sounds of speeches, and the complex thinking, calculating, or recalling past events, have a lot of details, their activities are information-intensive. Thus, qualia’s activities are fast, dynamic, and information-intensive.

   PQ2.3. Their occurrences are from and their existence is with their specific neural processes, and both are consistent.

Qualia always occur whenever their specific neural processes start creating them and disappear whenever their specific neural processes stop creating them. For example, visual qualia occur whenever neural processes for visual perception start creating them (when opening eyes to see, when having migraine aura or epileptic visual aura, when being stimulated by electrical or magnetic stimulation, etc.) and disappear whenever their neural processes stop creating them (when closing eyes, when having acute bilateral occipital stroke, when being inhibited by magnetic stimulation, etc.), emotion qualia occur whenever neural processes for emotion start creating them (when encountering something fearful, when being stimulated by psychedelic drugs, when being stimulated by electrical stimulation, etc.) and disappear whenever their neural processes stop creating them (when suppressed by cognitive control, when modulated by meditation, when tranquilized by medications, etc.), and thinking qualia occur whenever neural processes for thinking start creating them (on waking up from sleep, on recovering from general anesthesia, on convalescing from cerebral concussion, etc.) and disappear whenever their neural processes stop creating them (when falling asleep, when being suppressed by general anesthesia, when becoming dysfunctional by cerebral concussion, etc.). Qualia have never been found to occur or exist independently without the functioning of their specific neural processes.

To be noted here is the consistency of qualia’s occurrences. If certain neural processes create qualia, they always create their qualia whenever they function – it is not that sometimes they create their qualia but sometimes do not. This is conversely true for neural processes that do not create qualia – they never ever create qualia. So, qualia do not occur haphazardly – they either consistently occur or consistently do not occur in certain neural processes. For example, whenever we open our eyes to experience visual qualia of the outside world, if the visual perception neural processes and other parts of the visual system are intact, the visual qualia always occur and continue to exist as long as we open our eyes to see. We never experience episodes of perception with visual qualia alternating with episodes of perception without visual qualia when we open our eyes to see the world. Vice versa, we never sometimes experience the qualia of sodium blood levels, glucose blood levels, cortisol blood levels, or blood levels of other constituents and sometimes do not experience these qualia – we always never experience the qualia of these blood levels.

The consistency of qualia’s occurrences and existence also extends across time and across biological changes. For example, visual qualia have always occurred whenever we open our eyes to see the world since when we were babies up until now, even if our visual neural processes have been changing biologically throughout these times (and we now are quite different biological entities from what when we were babies). Memory lapses put aside, it never occurs to us that, at times, we did not have visual qualia when we opened our eyes, yet we were able to go about not hitting things in the way and were able to describe the appearances of things in front of us correctly (even if we did not have visual qualia of them!)**. If such episodes ever occurred, it meant that we sometimes had visual awareness without visual qualia occurring. But this never happened. And this is true for other sensory perceptions as well.

(**Blindsight [10-15] and anopsognosia [16], the conditions that a patient seems to have unconscious visual perception without conscious visual perception and visual qualia, are not evidence that visual qualia do not consistently occur in people with normal visual systems because people with blindsight or anopsognosia have abnormalities in their visual systems.)

The consistency of qualia’s occurrences and existence extends across people and across places too. For example, people anywhere with normal visual systems always have visual qualia when they open their eyes to see the world. It is not that some people (with normal visual systems) have qualia but some do not. This is evident by the fact that when people with normal visual systems talk about visual qualia, there is no surprise or confusion in what the term “visual qualia” refers to. If some people never experience visual qualia, they will not have information about visual qualia in their minds and will not be able to know what the term “visual qualia” refers to. They will certainly be surprised when they learn that other people have something they do not have. They will certainly query what other people are talking about, what qualia are like, and why they do not have these qualia. Philosophers and neuroscientists who do not have qualia will likely report their absence of qualia to the scientific community and formally establish in the literature that some people, such as them, do not have qualia. They will certainly not engage in discussing this matter or participate in doing researches and experiments about this matter seriously as if they had these phenomena without letting other people and the scientific community know that they do not have them. (This is also conversely true for us. If some people say that they have qualia of the blood level of sodium or other blood constituents and are discussing these qualia and doing some researches and experiments about them, we will be surprised and point out to them that we do not have those qualia. We will certainly not engage in discussing those qualia with them comprehensively as if we had the qualia or participate in doing researches and experiments about those qualia seriously as if we had the qualia. Instead, we will query them what their qualia are like.) Some of the people who do not have visual qualia will probably seek medical advice. But these never happen. Clinically, there are no medical records about such people, who have normal visual systems but do not have qualia. Therefore, it can be concluded that the absence of visual qualia in people with normal visual systems never occurs and that visual qualia consistently occur in people with normal visual systems. This is also true for other kinds of qualia. (See more discussion about this matter in the section 10.2. Lying Zombie, Chapter 10 Zombies.)

Therefore, neural processes that produce qualia always produce qualia no matter when, where, or in whom they are. Qualia’s occurrences and existence are thus consistent. This indicates that qualia’s occurrences/non-occurrences and existence/non-existence are not arbitrary or haphazard but are strictly determined by some characteristics of their neural processes so that they must keep occurring and existing consistently in certain neural processes and not occurring and not existing consistently in certain neural processes.

   PQ2.4. Their places of occurrences are selectively and specifically limited to some specific neural processes.

Qualia have never been found to occur anywhere other than in the functioning brain. And in the functioning brain, they have so far been found selectively in some specific neural processes only – those involved in the final-stage sensory perceptions (such as the final visual perception neural processes and the final auditory perception neural processes) and those involved in highest-level cognitive and executive functions (such as the neural processes for emotion, thinking, making decisions, and commanding volitional movement), as noted in section 3.4. These neural processes are exclusively the neural processes in the latest-evolved parts of the brain. This selectivity indicates that some specific characteristics of these neural processes must be the factors that enable them to produce qualia. And the fact that qualia occur selectively in the latest-evolved parts of the brain, not in the more primitive parts of the brain (such as the midbrain, medulla, and cerebellum), indicates that some kind of evolutionary processes is involved in this selectivity. Thus, it is probable that some characteristics of neural processes such as unique neural circuitries with unique signaling patterns have evolved for qualia to occur.

Moreover, the occurrences of qualia of each kind are specifically fixed and limited to neural processes of that specific kind only. For example, visual-kind qualia (color, brightness, shape, etc.) occur in only vision neural processes and never occur in auditory, emotion, thought, or other kinds of neural processes; vice versa, only visual-kind qualia, not any other kinds of qualia, occur in vision neural processes. This is true for all other kinds of qualia too. This specificity indicates that some specific characteristics of the neural processes must also be the factors that determine which kind of qualia (and, in effect, which kinds of phenomenal characteristics) occur in which kind of neural processes.

In conclusion, the selectivity and specificity in places of occurrences of qualia indicate that

– which neural process can produce qualia (or where qualia can occur) is determined by some specific characteristics of that neural process (the selectivity),

– which type of qualia (and in effects, which type of phenomenal characteristics) occurs in a certain neural process is also determined by some specific characteristics of that neural process (the specificity), and

– these characteristics that determine qualia’s places of occurrences are the result of neural process’s evolution.

Thus, qualia’s places of occurrences are not haphazard but are strictly determined by some evolved characteristics of their neural processes.

    PQ2.5. Their capacities are limited and identical to those of their specific neural processes.

Qualia’s capacities, or ranges of information that the qualia can attain, are not unrestricted but limited and identical to those of their neural processes. For example, a visual quale’s visual field extent and color spectrum range are limited and identical to those of the visual perception neural processes, and an auditory quale’s sound frequency and amplitude ranges are limited and identical to those of the auditory perception neural processes. If this is not the case, the excess capacity of the quale will be found to exist, such as there are visual qualia occurring outside the visual neural process’s visual field or there are auditory qualia occurring above or below the auditory neural process’s frequency ranges – which has never been found to occur.

On the other hand, excess capacity of the neural process may exist that is not manifested in its quale. However, the portion of the neural process that creates this excess capacity can be considered not part of the specific neural process of that quale, and only the portion of the neural process that has the identical capacity to its quale will be considered the specific neural process of that quale.

   PQ2.6. Their details are determined by and are identical to their specific neural processes, with definiteness in their structure.

Qualia’s details, or information that the qualia contain, are not random but determined solely by their specific neural processes and are identical to those contained in their neural processes. For example, a visual quale’s details (e.g., color, brightness, and movement information of each point in the visual field) or an auditory quale’s details (e.g., pitch, timbre, and loudness of the sound) are determined solely by the visual perception or the auditory perception neural process, respectively, and these identical bits of information are contained in the respective neural process. If the quale’s details are not determined solely by its neural process and if the quale can have extra details that its neural process does not contain, then there must be some quale’s details that are not from its neural process manifesting (such as there must be some extra image manifesting in the visual perception quale even if the object of that image is not seen by the subject) or there must be some quale’s details left manifesting after the neural process stops functioning (such as there must be some part of the visual perception quale left manifesting even after the eyes have been closed or the occipital lobes have been destroyed). But these never happen. On the contrary, it always happens that, whenever the information in the neural process changes or disappears, the information in the corresponding quale changes or disappears accordingly. For example, when there is a lesion in ventral or caudomedial occipitotemporal or ventromedial occipital cortex, which functions to create color information of the opposite visual field, visual qualia in the opposite visual field will inescapably lack color-information, resulting in achromatopsia (color blindness) in that visual field [17-20].

Like capacities of neural processes, extra details that are contained in the neural process but are not manifested in its qualia are possible. However, the portion of the neural process that contains these extra details can be considered not part of the specific neural process of that quale, and only the portion of the neural process that has identical details to its quale will be considered the specific neural process of that quale.

Structure of qualia

One important characteristic of qualia’s details is that each kind of qualia has a definite structure, across people. The structure of qualia of any kind consists of

  1. the number and types of components of that kind of qualia and
  2. the spectral characteristics of that kind of qualia.

For example, visual qualia always have a fixed number of components, ***, and their components are always color, brightness, shape, dimension, acuity, and velocity; and they always have definite spectral characteristics (see Figure 4.3), such as the definite wavelengths where they change their hues along the spectrum (for example, the light spectrum always changes its hues markedly at wavelengths around 410, 490, 570, and 620 nm) and the definite relation between colors at different wavelengths (such as colors at wavelengths 380 and 440 nm [60 nm apart] are markedly different in their hues but colors at wavelengths 660 and 720 nm [also 60 nm apart] are quite similar in their hues).

(*** The number of components may vary according to the opinions of various authors. However, the exact number is not the point; the point is the definiteness of the number – it is the same across all people. For example, if the correct number is 5 or 7, it is 5 or 7 across all people.)

Figure 4.3 Visible light spectrum characteristics

Another example is auditory qualia. They always have five components*** of pitch, loudness, timbre, envelope, and duration – which are not equal and not the same as to those of visual qualia. The sound spectrum of a musical scale always has musical notes perceived similarly (but in different pitch) every octave higher or lower (see Figure 4.4). For example, C4, C5, and C6 sound similar to human ears (but in different octaves). This does not happen with hues in a light spectrum.

Figure 4.4 A Musical scale from C4 (261.63 Hz) to C6 (1046.5 Hz)

Also, the sound spectrum of a musical scale does not exhibit irregular changes in pitch or loudness along the scale as a light spectrum does in their hues and their brightness along the spectrum. Moreover, the combinations of different musical notes have characteristic results – they result in musical chords, which are distinct auditory phenomena from the musical notes. This is different from the combinations of different colors – they result in just new colors, which are not distinct visual phenomena from other colors.

Thus, although we cannot be sure whether other people experience the same visual or sound qualia as we do or not, we can be certain that the qualia structure (i.e., the number and types of components and the spectral characteristics) are the same across people because, if they were different, we would be able to observe that we had different experiences of the qualia. But such different experiences among people have never been observed, so the qualia structure must be the same across all people. The definiteness in qualia structure (definiteness in number and types of components and definiteness in spectral characteristics) indicates that qualia do not just occur randomly (or arbitrarily) in various details by themselves but that some specific physical factors in the neural processes such as the anatomical arrangement of the neural circuits or the signaling pattern of the neural process must be involved in determining the structure of qualia.

   PQ2.7. Their changes are dependent on their specific neural processes.

When there are changes in neural processes, the corresponding qualia will change identically and simultaneously. For example, in physiologic conditions, visual qualia always change details identically and simultaneously with the visual perception neural processes when a person looks around; auditory qualia always change details identically and simultaneously with the auditory perception neural processes when a person listens to a speech or a song. In pathologic conditions: acute infarction of left occipital lobe, abruptly damaging visual neural processes of the right visual field, will immediately cause visual qualia to have defect in the right visual field, and a tumor of the left post-central gyrus, destroying neural processes for touch sensation slowly, will impair touch qualia on the right side of the body gradually.

    PQ2.8. Their interactions depend on and are via their specific neural processes.

Qualia cannot interact with other mental processes directly – they have to depend on and interact via their specific neural processes. For example, to consciously experience phenomenal characteristics of the red color quale, the consciousness cannot experience the red color quale’s phenomenal characteristics directly – it has to experience them through the color perception neural process, the consciousness neural process, and the connection between both neural processes. This is evident by the fact that, if there is a lesion that destroys the color perception neural process and/or its connection with the consciousness neural process, the consciousness neural process will not be able to experience the red color quale’s phenomenal characteristics.

4.2. Theorem III

The consistency of qualia’s occurrences/non-occurrences and existence/non-existence, the selectivity and specificity of qualia’s places of occurrences, and the definiteness in the qualia structure discussed above are consistently true for billions of people living now and in the past. Thus, they indicate definitely that qualia are not arbitrary or haphazard phenomena but are consistent phenomena that are determined by some specific characteristics of neural processes, which are physical processes. Moreover, these properties and the other properties indicate that qualia are totally dependent on neural processes in all physical aspects. Stating otherwise: physically, nothing about qualia exists that is not dependent on neural processes. Because their occurrences and existence are dependent on their specific neural processes and are consistent, their occurrences and existence are predictable. Because their places of occurrences are selectively and specifically limited to some specific neural processes, their places of occurrences are predictable. Because their capacities, details, structure, changes, and interactions are dependent on and determined by their specific neural processes, which are physical processes that can be predictable, their capacities, details, structure, changes, and interactions are predictable. Therefore, it can be concluded that qualia are physical phenomena – phenomena that are governed by physical laws and are physically predictable – that are dependent on their neural processes. This theory asserts this fact as a theorem:

Theorem III. Qualia are neural-process dependent physical phenomena.

The above is the specific form of Theorem III. The basic form of Theorem III can be stated as:

Theorem III. Qualia are physical phenomena.

4.3. Predictions

  1. It will be found that qualia’s occurrences, places of occurrences, existence, capacities, details, structure, changes, and interactions are always predictable with physical laws.
  2. A quale (such as a visual perception of a house, a thinking of a situation, or an emotion of happiness) will never be found to occur by itself but will always be found to be created by a certain neural process (such as visual perception neural process, thinking neural process, or emotion neural process). This means that whenever a quale is identified, a neural process that creates the quale will be found. A neural process can be verified to be the one that creates the quale by experiments that manipulate the neural process. If the neural process is the one, there will be corresponding changes in the quale when there are changes in the neural process.
  3. A quale can be created, measured qualitatively and quantitatively, monitored, changed, or destroyed by performing the respective action to only its neural process. These actions to the neural process are both necessary and sufficient for the actions on the quale to occur, and these actions on anything else without having the actions on the neural process will not result in actions on the quale.
  4. In any event or experiment, all predictions that are true for the neural process of a certain quale, such as that the neural process will start functioning, change, or stop functioning, will be simultaneously true for the quale of that neural process, and the changes that occur in the neural process and that occur in the quale of that neural process will be identical in quality, quantity, and temporal pattern. For example, if the neural process changes its function abruptly from processing visual signals of the static, faint, homogenous red color to processing visual signals of the dynamic, vivid, complex movie, the changes in the quale will be simultaneous and identical in quality, quantity, and temporal pattern (i.e., identical changes from homogeneous to complex [quality], from faint to vivid [quantity], and abruptly from static to dynamic [temporal pattern]).

4.4. How to test qualia’s occurrences in people

To test qualia’s occurrences in people, we use their cardinal property: PQ1.2. their characteristics are phenomenal and consciously experienceable. This means that they can induce conscious experiences of their phenomenal characteristics in people in whom they occur. Such people will have conscious experiences of the qualia’s phenomenal characteristics, such as conscious experiences of what it is like to see a red color, to hear a musical note C, to smell a rose odor, to feel happy, and to relive a past event, occurring in their minds. Although they cannot describe what a red color, a musical note C, a happy feeling, etc. are like to those who never experience these phenomena because phenomenal characteristics are indescribable, they can tell that these phenomena are phenomenally different from each other and that there is a unique conscious experience occurring for each of them.

This is in contrast to unconscious experiences, such as of blood level of sodium, cholesterol, hormones, etc. We do not have conscious experience of what it is like to have the blood level of sodium, cholesterol, hormones, etc. at various levels even if we are unconsciously aware of them and react to them all the time. We cannot tell for certain whether there are unconscious experiences occurring or, if they occur, they are phenomenally different from each other or they are phenomenally alike because we never consciously experience them.

So, for any phenomenon in question, we can ask the person the following questions to check whether a quale occurs in that phenomenon:

  1. Does he/she know what it is like to experience that phenomenon, such as does he know what it is like to see the red color and does she know what it is like to have the blood level of sodium at 135 mEq/L? If the answer is yes, then a quale occurs, but if the answer is no, then a quale does not occur.
  2. Is the phenomenon in question phenomenally different from the red color, the musical note C, or the rose odor that he/she has consciously experienced before? If the answer is yes or no, then a quale occurs, but if the answer is he/she cannot tell because he/she does not have anything to compare, then a quale does not occur.
  3. Is the experience of the phenomenon similar to the experiences of various blood levels of sodium, oxygen, or hormones in that he/she is not aware that he/she is experiencing the phenomenon? If the answer is yes, then a quale does not occur, but if the answer is no because he/she is aware that he/she is experiencing something that he/she never does in the cases of various blood levels, then a quale occurs.

 

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