Can Machines Be Conscious?

[Philosophy Now]

Sebastian Sunday Grève and Yu Xiaoyue find an unexpected way in which the answer is ‘yes’.

https://philosophynow.org/issues/155/Can_Machines_Be_Conscious

[Agent Smith]

Jimmy exited the door and was walking down the small path to the gate when he heard Fiona. "Good morning Mr. Yamasu, how have you been? Hi there Ms. Penny, it's a pleasure to see you're in good health." she was saying. Jimmy went around the corner of the house and saw Fiona ... she was alone. He immediately felt a sense of dread; Fiona's family had a history of schizophrenia. He asked, very worried, "who are you talking to?". Fiona, not looking, answered, "to my plants of course. Meet Mr. Yamasu, my Penfield Rose and this is Ms. Penny, my Cataran Tulip. I haven't named them all but I will, in a few days." Jimmy, more concerned now, inquired, "are you ok?" Fiona immediately added 2 and 2 together, after all she had a PhD in physics, and giggling she replied, "Jimmy, many people who have gardens talk to their plants. It's perfectly normal. I'm not cuckoo ... yet! Hahaha." Jimmy, much relieved, but still a bit uncertain had a question, "does Mr. Yamasu and Ms. Penny talk back?" Fiona burst into laughter, "no Jimmy, they don't talk. It's like my lectures - one way communication, but ..." Jimmy, fearful still, "but?" Fiona had a broad grin on her face, "Jimmy had a chain and Fiona yanked it" she sang, to the tune of Love never dies, their favorite song.

Either there's nothing special about mountain goats or there's something really special about the sheer cliffs on which they dwell.

[owl of Minerva]

If consciousness is endemic to everything, is the ground of being, AI already has it as AI is not outside what is. But nothing created, including mankind, is consciousness. To have consciousness is not being consciousness itself. Having consciousness requires having sensation which does not arise until plant life, then animals, then humans.

If machines can be made sentient they could acquire consciousness. Making them sentient is the problem and it is unlikely that sensation can arise from thought or information, if thought and information post dates being sentient. Except in AI where they are programmed in. Having intelligence is not being intelligence, or being one with it, as for example the Buddha or other liberated masters who can know without the aid of information derived from the senses.

AI would have hurdles to pass to become sentient and acquire consciousness and so far humans do not have the information necessary to program AI to be sentient. Acquiring it on its own is unlikely for the above reasons.

[frankaA]

An interesting thought experiment, but I fail to see what it adds to speculation about artificial consciousness. Humankind is presently embarked on a quest to construct machines that exhibit intelligent behavior. At present we do not know of any intrinsic limits to the endeavor. Thus, it is presently plausible to conjecture that at some point in the future we will be interacting with machines that are at least as sentient and intelligent as we are. How might we know whether or not these machines were also conscious? Presumably the same way we know whether or not a human being is conscious. We would ask it. Suppose all of its answers indicate that it is at least as conscious as we are. Would that be sufficient to declare that we have created conscious machines?

[river]

Conscious machines is possible but it will never have the same Conscious as Life .

[commonsense]

Conscious machines is possible but it will never have the same Conscious as Life .

Right. And that’s why one is called machine consciousness but the other one is human consciousness.

[commonsense]

As the author pointed out, a foot isn’t conscious. Neither is a limb. It is unlikely that a prosthetic limb can be conscious.

[SteveKlinko]

Her's an Experiment that will test a theory of Machine Consciousness: https://www.theintermind.com/MachConExp ... ctions.asp