Qualia in A to Z

It’s April of 2024 and Day 17 of the A to Z challenge. This year I am doing the theme of ‘26 Moments’ on my blog. I plan to pull out A to Z parts from diverse set which are more than just the parts and possibly describe the world of their own.  It can be a wonder, an invention, a community, the philosophy, a thought, a lead, a culture, a design, or basically anything that would make one wonder and ponder on.  26 imperfect petite flashes that are amongst and around us.

My everyday will have a selection, description, an eight line poem followed by an interpretation.

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Day 17: Qualia

Qualia is a Latin derived word which describes the subjective conscious know-hows. The word tries to understand the nature of consciousness we all have. The feelings and experiences like: having a headache, the redness in color red, running fingers over sandpaper, smelling the sea air etc. all have an experience of a mental state with a distinctive subjective character. Qualia refers to these kind of phenomenal aspects of our mental experiences. The word means ‘of what sort’ or ‘of what kind’ in relation to a specific instance. Like example: what does this specific mango fruit tastes like, if I eat now. Rather than what it is directly like to be experiencing the emphasis is on beliefs about experiences. There is something it is like for each of us to subjectively undergo that experience. I love the philosophical depth that this word brings.

The redness of red is a commonly used example to explain the quale.

Poem:
All those experiences
That we can’t describe
Can’t really express,
That we can only feel
And live,
Is what makes
Our life and living
More than special.

We all have our own defined body smell and possibly there is someone who loves it or is attracted to. I feel what makes human special in social ladder, one of is, the ability that we can feel and express in several ways. Or feel a feeling and have inability to express it. We should have as many in our life time.