Maybe people working in ML separate AGI from consciousness / self awareness / sentience but I don't think anyone else does. (If so, what is general non-human in

Maybe people working in ML separate AGI from consciousness / self awareness / sentience but I don't think anyone else does. (If so, what is general non-human intelligence?) Saying AGI is around the corner is like saying "cloud backups for consciousness" is just around the corner. We don't yet: 1. Understand the location of consciousness (if that even makes sense). We think it's in the brain area as that seems to be our CPU. Our knowledge stops there. 2. Understand the physics of consciousness. Is it some sort of emergent-y brainwave pattern thing? Again, pure speculation. So, we're assuming: 1. Machine learning is in any way analogous to what processes our consciousness arises from. Which is just horse shit, repeated because someone decided to call college level math a "neural network". 2. If we do enough ML simultaneously we'll cross some threshold into sentient-computer land. 3. Or, there exist "magical algorithms" that will do the same. A self-driving car is as self-aware as a calculator. It's not going to start learning, in earnest, or solving problems at the level humans can. Ever. Our level of problem solving requires conscious awareness (theory of mind, imagination, et al). We won't be able to recreate that until we understand our own. There's a distinct possibility that is, by definition, unknowable. But, hey, let's keep bullshitting greedy investors and scaring technophobes. The computers are taking over!!