Whatever the explanation for consciousness is, it might always seem like a miracle. And for what it’s worth, I think it always will seem like a miracle.
-Sam Harris, quoted in "Day 4 Concluded"
I want to make one* point about this excellent Sentientism podcast with Opis' Jonathan Leighton:
The host claims if we take a "scientistic" (reductionist / evolutionary biology) view of the world, we "crush the meaning and the fun and the value and the joy" from life (at 11 minutes).
Um ... no.
In short, I am as reductionist a person as you'll meet. All that exists is matter and energy. Everything is just bosons and fermions following the laws of physics (unless I'm a simulation).
But if you know me or have read TBTSNBN**, you know my life has fun and value and joy. I greatly enjoy food and drink and sunshine and NSFW, even though I know why I crave it. I have less suffering the more I internalize reality.
In short, we don't need illusions to have joy or value our lives. My experience argues just the opposite.
If interested in this topic, please check out Dawkins' Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion, and the Appetite for Wonder. Existence is truly filled with wonder; the more we understand, the more we (well-off humans reading this) can appreciate and be grateful for our limited time of consciousness.
*OK, I have many points I want to make, but this is the most relevant one, IMO.
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