TL;DR: Most physicalist theories of consciousness explain how brains process information, but they struggle to explain why any of that processing should feel like anything from the inside. I argue that, for a brain with our evolutionary history to avoid a crippling motivation problem, evolution had to develop conscious minds.

Argument Summary

Not a substitute for reading the whole thing (unfortunately)!

The Planner - Humans have an unusually powerful, flexible reasoning engine (the “Planner”). Natural selection has favoured ever more sophisticated reasoning in humans.
Regress - Unless there is an intrinsic notion of value anywhere, this Planner will not be able to make decisions and end up stalling. Neither a bare bodily stimulus, nor an overarching objective function will stop this motivational regress.
Valence - To end the regress and motivate action effectively, value data should have several properties. They should be: -
1. Non-rationally compelling - these are bedrock impulses, unable to be ignored or reasoned away.
2. Decision-relevant - either over-rideable by reason in the present, or relevant for future learning.
3. Intelligible - its “message” about what’s better and worse must be clear and usable.
4. Interest-aligning - motivate future planning towards what evolution “wants” (survival, reproduction, etc.).
Wiring these signals in leads to the emergence of a self-model as a centralised locus of control and value.
Model of the World - Perceptual and memory systems must provide the Planner with a structured picture of the world and self, so that value signals can guide choices over time.
Cashing In the Chips - Putting all this motivational architecture together leads to something that looks exactly like phenomenal consciousness. Conscious experience isn’t an optional add-on, it’s what we need to solve the motivation problem.
Conclusion - Implications are there but let’s red-team the argument first. Comment and objections invited.

Introduction

“It is widely agreed that experience arises from a physical basis, but we have no good explanation of why and how it so arises.” Chalmers 1995

This quote marked the beginning of a new chapter in the philosophy of mind. In framing the “hard problem of consciousness”, David Chalmers got people talking about consciousness again, reigniting a debate that stretches back to Descartes.

The “why and how” dual nature of the hard problem makes it mor...

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