Many philosophers and scientists have some truly bizarre beliefs. But undoubtedly, the denial of consciousness is the most bizarre. Indeed, I don't really understand what the consciousness deniers are really saying. That no-one literally ever has any conscious experiences? No visual experiences, no thoughts, no pains, no hopes, no despair etc? Surely not. But if they don't mean this, what do they mean? I get the impression they are playing games with words and are not saying anything substantive at all. They just seem to me to be desperately trying to reconcile the undeniable fact of our own consciousness with materialism. But this is worse than saying an experience is literally identical to a series of neurons firing... although that is utterly bizarre enough.
And I think other stances such as the denial of mental causation; the denial of a persisting self (even from one minute to the next); the denial that colours, sounds and smells exist out there; the assertion that ultimately only subatomic particles and their interactions make up absolutely everything... I think all that is utterly bizarre too, although not quite reaching the absurdity of denying one's own conscious experiences.
But suppose I'm wrong about everything, that reality is really like what some of these people believe. Well.. I don't think I can possibly be wrong about my own consciousness, but what if I am wrong about everything else? I suppose, if I am, then I am. I have tried to understand and grasp things, it's the best I can do.
But I do try to understand where people are coming from. Why on earth do they believe the bizarre things they do? It seems clear to me that it is our modern western culture that is the source of all these bizarre beliefs. There seems to be this infatuation with science, and physics in particular, and a misinterpretation of what it's telling us.
To be honest, I think it's all largely groupthink. I think to a large extent they are just repeating each other, maybe they're concerned about their reputations and careers to want to rock the boat too much. And when others are continually expressing a certain view of the world, that surely has a powerful effect on one's own beliefs?
I don't think any of us knows anything really ...well, apart from the fact we are conscious! We are just cast adrift into this world. We do not know what we are, where we come from, where we are going, what the world is, and why it has the nature it has, and whether our existence has any type of meaning or purpose. We are lost in a huge chasm of unfathomable mystery, and so we just soldier on.