The View from Nowhere
The View from Nowhere is a book by philosopher Thomas Nagel. Published by Oxford University Press in 1986, it contrasts passive and active points of view in how humanity interacts with the world, relying either on a subjective perspective that reflects a point of view or an objective perspective that takes a more detached perspective. Nagel describes the objective perspective as the "view from nowhere", one where the only valuable ideas are ones derived independently.
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What Hacker News says
- By far my favourite book on consciousness is "The View From Nowhere" by Thomas Nagel. It doesn't mention AI but you can make the connections yourself.
David Chalmers has a recent book and a bunch of papers on AI and consciousness. I haven't read the book or much of his other recent stuff, but he is super smart, and also (!) well respected by other philosophers. See https://consc.net/
- Actually, there is something of an anti-solipsist position. Thomas Nagel discusses it in his classic "The View From Nowhere." If solipsism might be regarded as holding that nothing exists other than what is perceived from one's _subjective_ viewpoint, then anti-solipsism holds that nothing exists other than the _objective_ "viewpoint." What the anti-solipsist would deny is his own perspective as a subject in the world, which as one might imagine, is as impossible as holding a solipsist position. Nagel's book strives to reconcile these seemingly irreconcilable perspectives -- subjective and objective. Recommended reading.
