Qualia as physical measurements: a mathematical model of qualia and pure concepts

03/20/2022

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by   Pedro Resende, et al.

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University of Lisbon

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A space of qualia is defined to be a sober topological space whose points are the qualia and whose open sets are the pure concepts in the sense of Lewis, carrying additional algebraic structure that conveys the conscious experience of subjective time and logical abstraction. This structure is analogous to that of a space of physical measurements. It is conjectured that qualia and measurements have the same nature, corresponding to fundamental processes via which classical information is produced and physically stored, and that therefore the hard problem of consciousness and the measurement problem are two facets of the same problem. The space of qualia is independent from any preexisting notions of spacetime and conscious agent, but its structure caters for a derived geometric model of observer. Intersubjectivity is based on relating different observers in a way that leads to a logical version of quantum superposition.