Welcome • User Guide
ToS • Privacy • Canary
Donate • Bugs • License

©2026 Poal.co

1.1K

Very difficult question. I came up with:

"A deep understanding of ones pending death".

Basically a being that is able to understand and grasp that it is alive and that it will die.

Very difficult question. I came up with: "A deep understanding of ones pending death". Basically a being that is able to understand and grasp that it is alive and that it will die.

(post is archived)

[–] • 6 pts

I am.

[–] • 2 pts

Or better is the classic Descartes “I think therefore I am’

[–] • 0 pt

Wasn't it Socrates that asked too many questions and was sent to jail?

[–] • 2 pts

Not just jail, he was accused of corrupting the youth by questioning Greek myth and was made to drink Hemlock, which is a death sentence

[–] • 2 pts

I shoulda read the comments first

[–] • 2 pts

Consciousness is a journey which progresses by experiences. To a large degree this awareness happens more clearly in children who have access to the countryside. A rural area where there is an abundance of trees, lakes, seasons, animals, and solitude. And at some point, the child asks, how did all this beauty come to be? How did I come to be? Later, he may ask, for what purpose? All the while, a child knows he was created by something, that everything which surrounds him was created by something; but unaware that the knowledge was placed there by the creator himself. Ultimately, that child realizes there is something unseen inside, the essence of who he is; his thoughts, his mind and his heart ..........and discovers his soul. As a child it is not hard to comprehend God as the creator and there is a longing to communicate with Him thru this consciousness. It is only as an adult we begin to twist or doubt the consciousness we once had as a child. The consciousness of a soul, the essence of your life must be nurtured and protected. God is spirit; He communicates with our soul. The rest of existence is just icing on the cake.

[–] • 0 pt

Very natural and beautiful perspective.

Perhaps this is one reason to remain childlike?

[–] • 0 pt

I love your response It's beautiful.

[–] • 1 pt

Thank you Puffy.

[–] • 2 pts

causality + emergence

[–] [deleted] • 1 pt

Consciousness is desire. Desire for nourishment, desire to reproduce, desire for information, all sorts of desires fit into the category of "consciousness." That is why a real AI is still far off, we can only SIMULATE the BEHAVIOR of desire so far, we cannot make a machine that truly wants anything yet, and we are nowhere near making one yet.

[–] • 1 pt

It is a thing I know exists because I experience it. There is nothing else in the world I can aptly recognize better than my own existence. Everything beyond what I experience could potentially be a conceptualization to render my life, or this experience of my life, more fulfilling. My ability to recognize consciousness in others is through shared habits or mannerisms. I have nothing beyond this recognition, I have nothing beyond my own experience, and I have no knowledge of anything beyond this experience that I can hold on to, thus, I await death with both a sense of dread and anticipation.

[–] • 0 pt

Research Donald Hoffman. You may enjoy his theory about existence.

[–] • 1 pt (edited )

Consciousness is awareness. Awareness of your thoughts and your environment. It's thought which includes the free will to choose. It's knowledge. When ones in a deep asleep, they're semi-unconscious unless they're dreaming.

[–] • 0 pt

Wouldn’t that also mean by extension that one will also be alive every day until their death?

Seeing consciousness as little more than acknowledgment of an upcoming and unavoidable death is like seeing lunch as little more than an eventual empty plate?

[–] • 0 pt

Its hard to define but how would you define it?

[–] • 0 pt

A state of being; capable of or marked by thought, will, design, or perception

[–] [deleted] • 0 pt

I've never seen it. How do I know it even exist? Can a creature for all intents and purposes act human and not be conscious? How do you tell if someone possesses consciousness? Do real life NPCs have it?

[–] • 0 pt

You might be the only real living entity and we may all be simulations of your creation.

[–] • 0 pt

You know you have eyes because you see. Seeing your own eyes in a mirror is superfluous. Seeing the eyes of another doesn't tell you anything about whether he too sees.

So it is with your soul.

[–] [deleted] • 0 pt

I can see someone else's eyes but not their consciousness. They are very different things.

[–] • 0 pt

But seeing with your eyes would show you that you have eyes even if you never saw a pair of eyes. The soul and see too, but people ignore it and call it an illusion because they can't see the soul.

[–] • 0 pt

The universe observing itself,.

[–] • 0 pt

There is no denying that because we are all made out of the same stuff.

[–] • 0 pt

Celestine Prophecy Power vs Force Biology of belief Good books that offer some insight into consciousness

Load more (11 replies)