Philosophy Now Forum

by Tim Madigan

http://philosophynow.org/issues/96/Prob ... th_Zombies

I don't like this issue. Philosophy Now has not gone to the dogs but to the zombies. It's a copout

I can see zombies reading it and giggling. Zombies don't normally giggle but reading this issue they do.

God save us!

I think the fact that zombies (probably) don't exist is a tragic loss to science. If we had a pair of twins, one zombie, one not, we could conduct a very simple experiment. What we'd need is two giant hamster wheels; get the twins running in them and see if one of them falls down first.That way we would discover whether generating consciousness requires energy or is an almighty free lunch.

We have two gerbils and a hamster wheel, if that helps at all. They both run in it from time to time, though not both at once. The gerbils aren't twin, though they may be sisters. I am unable to tell whether one or other of the gerbils is a zombie gerbil. I tend to think not, but maybe I'm just anthropomorphising.

Well the stumbling block is consciousness; you have to establish whether one or other gerbil is conscious. For this to be a proper scientific experiment, you will need to ask them nicely and make them promise not to tell fibs. If one of them says, 'Yes, I am a zombie', we're in business. Then all you need to do is weigh them, and measure their calorie usage. Hamster wheels are ideal, because they make the sums a lot easier, but if they won't run at the same time, there's not a lot you can do without falling foul of animal rights activists. Anyway, after a time, weigh them again, eliminate the variables, do the sums and any difference is the cost in energy of generating consciousness over and above brain states.
The question is, are your gerbils up for it?