The dilution and trivialization of the term "Hard Problem" itself. Originally coined by David Chalmers for the problem of consciousness, it referred to questions that resist standard scientific methods due to their first-person, experiential nature. The "Hard Problem of the Hard Problem" is that the term has now been slapped onto every difficult, unresolved, or paradoxical issue in every field, from the "Hard Problem of Biology" to the "Hard Problem of Coffee Making." This overuse drains it of its specific philosophical power and turns it into a rhetorical cliché meaning "this is really tricky." The original, profound mystery gets lost in a crowd of imposter problems.
Example: Someone says, "The real Hard Problem is getting my Wi-Fi to reach the backyard." By jokingly or ignorantly equating a mere technical annoyance with the existential mystery of subjective experience, they trivialize the original concept. The hard problem: When every problem is "hard," none are. The term's power was in its specificity—pointing to an explanatory gap that seems to require a paradigm shift. Its memeification has turned it into just another way to say "this is confusing," robbing us of a precise tool for identifying genuine philosophical frontiers. Hard Problem of the Hard Problem.
by Enkigal January 24, 2026
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