The Experience of Waterfalls
This is Majestic Falls, in the McDowell Creek Falls area, taken on a morning that was supposed to be cloudy but turned out sunny. Fortunately we made it there before the sun became a problem. Taken with a long exposure, the falling water appears silky smooth, almost like a wisp.
This photographic approach is very popular. One reason may simply be the beautiful aesthetic of silky smoothness. But also, something about this style seems to capture what we feel when we see a waterfall — the sense of pure unbroken flow.
In other words, the smooth lines of flowing water give a sense of what we experience, but may not be an accurate representation of what we physically see.
This idea that there is such a sense, that there is something it is like to experience the sight of a waterfall, is an important part of our understanding of consciousness. The technical term for this is “qualia” – what it is like to experience something.
Qualia are frequently discussed but poorly understood. They are at the heart of the mind/body problem of understanding whether the mind is simply an expression of the body’s activities, such as brain activity, or whether there is something more to it.
For example, there is something that it is like to experience the color red when we look at a patch of red fabric. That experience of redness is a quale (the singular form of qualia). Similarly, there may be something that it is like to experience a waterfall.
So perhaps one way to think of the silky water appearance for waterfalls is that it captures something of the qualia associated with experiencing a waterfall, and highlights it by emphasizing one part of the visual experience. The result may be less accurate from a physical standpoint, but perhaps more accurate in representing what an observer experiences.
The reality and nature of qualia is under deep investigation as part of the general work on consciousness. This used to be mostly an academic question, but with the rise of AI, it will start to become more and more important in other areas.
Can AIs experience qualia? Only time will tell, maybe.