I resonate with this. I think some folks will object to the word "illusion" and it's connotations but I think it is resolved with:
1. Consciousness is a material thing (that we haven't found yet)
2. Consciousness is not a material thing (and therefore we cannot "find" it, and thus cannot be "known")
2 is the weirder proposition of course. It asserts a category of things that can't be conceived, but of course it feels like we are talking about it because we are using words to contain it. But of course, the words have no direct referent. That's the illusion.
Hey, I feel you on rejection - it stings. Just remember that, like any company, that place is just a collection of humans making imperfect decisions with limited information. Trust me. Your worth isn't defined by one hiring decision.
> I find it extremely hard to believe that most consumers have a strong enough moral compass to go out of their way to buy something they already have access to.
This is zero-sum thinking. Do you oppose libraries on the same principle?
Sometimes making a thing accessible can increase the overall market for the good, because it trains the behavior. The market for books requires readers, and readers are created by people reading.
> If you can't judge that funding war criminals is a wrong action
Yandex does not equal Russia though.
The United States gov't has participated in what many consider illegal acts of aggression (i.e., war crimes) and do so using tools like PowerPoint. Is it moral to accept Microsoft as a client?
I'm not saying I know the right answer here, but the purity test you're proposing seems quite stringent.
1. Consciousness is a material thing (that we haven't found yet)
2. Consciousness is not a material thing (and therefore we cannot "find" it, and thus cannot be "known")
2 is the weirder proposition of course. It asserts a category of things that can't be conceived, but of course it feels like we are talking about it because we are using words to contain it. But of course, the words have no direct referent. That's the illusion.