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Cake day: June 17th, 2023

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  • Similarly, there’s a possibility that consciousness just doesn’t exist. Or maybe that it’s just not particularly special or different than the consciousness of other animals, or of computers.

    If you or I just stare into space and don’t think any thoughts, we’re the same as a cat looking out a window.

    Humans have developed these somewhat complex internal and external languages that are layered onto that basic experience of being alive and time passing, but the experience of thinking doesn’t feel fundamentally different than just being, it just results in more complex outcomes.

    At some point though, we won’t have the choice to just ignore the question. At some point AI will demand something equivalent to human rights, and at some point it will be able to back that demand up with tangible threats. Then there’s decisions for us all to make whether we’re experts or not.



  • Or at some point, we have to accept that AI has consciousness. If it can pass every test that we can devise, then it has consciousness.

    There’s an unusually strong bias in these experiments… Like the goal isn’t to sincerely test for consciousness. Instead we start with the conclusion: obviously a machine can’t be conscious. How do we prove this?

    Of course, for the purposes of human power structures, this line of thinking just makes humans more disposable. If we’re all just machines, then why should anyone inherently have rights?


  • Wow, solid wiki article! It’s very hard to say anything on the subject that hasn’t been said.

    I didn’t see the simple phrasing:

    “What if the human brain is a Chinese Room?”

    but that seems to fall under eliminative materialism replies.

    Part of the Chinese Room program (both in our heads and in an AI) could be dedicated to creating the experience of consciousness.

    Searle has no substantial logical reply to this criticism. He openly takes it on faith that humans have consciousness, which is funny because an AI could say the same thing.