4 ms·
> If you believe that current AI implementations are capable of this sort of “everything we can do but differently” Surely nobody believes that. > progress wh
by leephillips 4y ago
> If you believe that current AI implementations are capable of this sort of “everything we can do but differently”
Surely nobody believes that.
> progress whatsoever in the understanding of consciousness
How would we know if we’d made this progress? How do you know if any other person other than yourself is conscious? (I think this is called the “zombie problem”.)
- rbanffy 4y agoHow do I know I am conscious and my perception of my own consciousness isn’t an illusion itself? We currently believe consciousness is an emerging phenomenon that happens to any sufficiently complex brain that posses the ability to gather and remember knowledge about itself and the organism that holds it. I’m sure our first contact with alien intelligence will be extremely puzzling at first, then profoundly horrifying, and, finally, deeply enlightening.
- leephillips 4y ago> How do I know I am conscious and my perception of my own consciousness isn’t an illusion itself? I can’t figure out what the difference would be between this “illusion” and “real” consciousness. Somewhere Sam Harris says something to the effect that our consciousness is the only thing we can be absolutely sure is real, almost by definition. If it were an illusion, then we would have to be conscious to experience the illusion.
- rbanffy 4y ago> I can’t figure out what the difference would be between this “illusion” and “real” consciousness. That's the point. We can't. > If it were an illusion, then we would have to be conscious to experience the illusion. Or, at least something other than us would need to be conscious in order to experience what it'd be like being us.