The Illusion of Subjective Experience and the so-called “Hard Problem of Consciousness”

The philosopher David Chalmers introduced the “hard problem of consciousness” in his 1995 paper Facing Up to the Problem of Consciousness and expanded on it in his book The Conscious Mind (1996). The hard problem asks: Why and how does subjective experience arise from physical processes in the brain?

The concept of subjective experience, often referred to in discussions about consciousness, has long been regarded as a profound mystery. To Chalmers, the “easy problem” involves explaining brain functions and behaviors that can, in principle, be studied scientifically (e.g., memory, attention, or perception). The “hard problem,” however, involves explaining the nature of qualia, the subjective, first-person experience of consciousness.

Chalmer suggests something uniquely elusive about our experiences — an intrinsic quality that physical processes cannot fully explain. However, this perspective may be a mystical obfuscation rather than an accurate reflection of cognitive science. In reality, subjective experience is not an enigma but a byproduct of the brain’s intricate mechanisms for processing information, shaped by a multitude of factors beyond mere sensory input.

At its core, subjective experience arises from the brain’s top-down processing…