Can our consciousness last forever?

[devilsadvocate]

Yes on the first, but no on the second to the extent that it must be experienced and that "being happy but not being aware that you are in this state called happy" doesn't count (which would fall into the first category, and then the answer would be yes).

Being happy =/= knowing of being happy =/= being fullyconvinced of being happy (in a bipolar sense)

Ok.. I'm trying to make sense of that answer. How do you propose a person could be wrong about feeling pain or joy? Can you give an example how that'd work out? I don't think anyone could, once they've thought about it for a while, say something like, "I thought I felt so happy yesterday, but now I realize I actually didn't!". It's just doesn't make any sense. How is it possible to believe you feel happy, but not actually feel it?

In my opinion, it all comes down to conscious qualitative experience being properly basic and to the Searle's utterance (though he used it in a bit different context) "When it comes to consciousness, appearance is reality."

With regard to this question, does the phenomena of experiencing a burning sensation when someone drops ice cubes on your bare back at the beach while exclaiming "Oh $&!%, the hot coals!" count?

This is an interesting question. My thoughts are that If for a micro-second, the person thought he felt burning pain, he really did feel burning pain. Though likely the situation is much more complex than that. For example feeling discomfort in terms of panic, urgency to flee and all sorts other feelings bundled into one quick experience one doesn't have time to dissect and reflect upon. There's a distinction between linguistic account of a feeling and between the feeling itself that needs to be kept in mind here.

I know (or hope so) what you're getting at here. Could the person have in the panic mistaken burning and cold sensation? Obviously he did, but all that matters is what it felt like. If we take otherwise analogous situation, but take the fleetness or acuteness off of it, the whole thing clears up considerably: Have you ever felt so cold, that you've had sensation as if your skin was burning? Well, did it feel like your skin was burning or were you mistaken? I'm at at loss how answering "I was mistaken" can even be intelligible answer, keeping in mind we are talking about the experience itself not about the why's or how's.

When you're having fun, are you inherently fun? When you're happy, are you happiness?

If a rock is hard, does it have hardness? If I'm conscious, do I have consciousness?