>I also found the random remark of "consciousness = what it feels like to have a neocortex" interesting.
So there's a way it feels to not have a neocortex? Doesn't feeling anything imply you're conscious, which means you don't need a neocortex to be conscious?
An insect "feels" pain. It doesn't however feel retrospective pain, and it doesn't feel the past in the same way we do.
Having a neocortex is like having a 6th sense.
Our taste, smell, hearing, sight, and feeling neurons are all indirectly fed into our brain. With a neocortex, that input is also fed in. It's our "consciousness" feeling.
Thanks, that makes sense. I was thinking of a different definition of "consciousness", the "hard problem" definition. [0] For an ant to feel pain, it would have to be conscious in the hard problem sense.
So there's a way it feels to not have a neocortex? Doesn't feeling anything imply you're conscious, which means you don't need a neocortex to be conscious?