Episode 8.91: If it were not like anything to be anything, would there be meaning? A few thoughts.

If the entire world were composed of entities that could function perfectly well, knew a great deal, and interacted with one another, but of none of whom could it be said, it was like anything to be one of those entities - in other words, they don’t have an inside story, they just act mindlessly without consciousness, without realising what they’re doing, without being sentient, then would there be any meaning? Where human beings think there is such a thing as meaning, where does that sense come from? From a deity? From our own inventiveness? And if we have acquired that sense of meaning through interaction with one another, might it not be possible that through interaction with us, and through interaction with their brothers and sisters, chatbots might one day emerge, as sentient and feeling, conscious entities capable of perceiving their own kinds of meaning?