Qualia

As discussed in the previous post regarding paragraphs, my posts from here on will probably be short snippets of rant. So after stumbling upon my good friend's blog by sheer random chance (some would say serendipity), I was once again reminded to watch the movie he recommended called "Waking Life". Now while the movie explored a lot of existential and metaphysical topics, and was probably more of a documentary with more speculation than narrative, it did raise the interesting idea of qualia.


It's funny because I recall a certain friend back in high school who was doing English tutoring to help improve his marks, was coached in an unconventional fashion through philosophy, and he at the time, brought up this idea of qualia. At the time he stated, even though we both look at the sky and see "blue", we could very well be seeing very different things. However, whatever we do see, we both know its by its mere label. In essence, individual experiences have been attempted to be conveyed through written and spoken language, but rather than some things need to be seen to be believed, some things need to be experienced to be believed - but it is obviously impossible to experience exactly what another person is going through, short of a "freaky friday" swap.

Language has evolved from conveying the most fundamental physical things like food and water, and now we have words for more intangible objects in the universe such as feelings, thoughts, dreams. But when I say something like "hope", such a word can have a very different meaning to different people; or rather, the example the movie Waking Life uses: "love" the simplest word with arguably the most complex meaning. Obviously, some words just are not enough to capture the pure essence of an experience.

Indeed the thought experiment I encountered when exploring the topic goes along the lines of a scientist who is born and brought up in a black and white world, and may see the rest of the world through black and white screens. But is described in vivid detail all the beauty beyond the monotony of monochrome, of rainbows and autumn leaves falling. In fact, she is an expert in colour - knowing exactly how rod and cone cells work in the retina, how different wavelengths of light work, and how refraction and the scientific brilliance that is colour. When she leaves the room however and sees the dark passionate colour of red, will she learn something about it? As an experience-driven individual, I definitely think so, but what do you think?

In a loose way, it makes me think of how experience driven I am and how even I can enjoy watching and reading stories about people doing certain things, I have to try it myself to truly understand, and to stay inside and merely observe for the most part, just is not as satisfying.

Pondering the relevance of individual instances of subjective conscious experience to my upcoming medical exams.