[keiferski]

That’s a pretty lacking theory of knowledge. How can you know what taste is, if you’re never tasted anything?

If you read a thousand books about living in New York City, is that the same thing as the experiential knowledge that comes from living there in person? I certainly don’t think so.

[rahimnathwani]

keiferski didn't ask for a theory of knowledge. You're moving the goalposts.

[keiferski]

That's literally what the conversation is about: what is knowledge?

You cannot claim that descriptive knowledge of something is equivalent to experiential knowledge of it, unless you have a theory of knowledge explaining why this is the case.

[rahimnathwani]

You asked for a description: "Can you tell me what it feels like to eat a hamburger"

I am sure I Fable (or GPT-5.6-Sol) could answer this question very well. It can probably even tell us what it feels like to eat a hamburger for the first time when you spent the first 18 years of your life as a vegetarian.

[keiferski]

I don't think you understand the premise of the question.

Asking another person or Fable what it feels like to eat a hamburger will give you a description of what it feels like. It will not give you the actual feeling. You are merely repeating words that someone else has told you. The description of something is not equivalent to the experience that comes from doing it yourself, as an experiencing subject. Reading a war journal about being in battle is not equivalent to the actual experience of being in battle.

To illustrate the point again: if we gathered ten people that all spoke different languages and gave them a hamburger, they would all gain the knowledge of what it feels like to eat a hamburger, even if none of them are able to communicate this to the others in language.

[rahimnathwani]

I understand the premise. My answer was meant to illustrate that, no, the 'original experience' is not needed, and that AI can produce a good answer relying only on '"data that mirrors" experiences'.

[keiferski]

It can provide a description. Not an actual answer of what it feels like.

I can't keep repeating myself.