> I cannot see that it matters if a computer understands something. I am not sure they can, but the difference is profound and material. A machine that actuall

> I cannot see that it matters if a computer understands something. I am not sure they can, but the difference is profound and material. A machine that actually understands, like a human being, is not going to be (can not be) entirely truthful or transparent. There will be private inner thoughts, idea formation, and possibly even willful intent, as a direct consequence of understanding. And the nature of interactions, regardless of superficial similarity, shifts from one of utility to relationship. For example, we would care to know if e.g. the systems entrusted with apocalyptic deterent forces are mechanisms or organisms. Please note that not a single one of us has ever interacted with any intelligent life form lacking a sense of self, or an ego. Thus, all our sensory registers of another 'intelligent being' are learned in a context of the implicit 'this other is like me'. We are not equipped to distinguish or articulate intelligence (in the abstract) merely based on sensory information. Note that even non-verbal communication, such as jabbing a friend in the ribs, are all learned to have a certain meaning in that very same context of implicits, and any mechanism that mimicks them (via training) will be afforded the same projection of the implicit. I do not believe there is, in fact, any non-destructive test of determining 'consciousness' in an entity. (Destructive, since there may be long running tests of a subject than can be shown to be probably accurate, possibly via creating situational problems involving survival, and unexpected circumstances.) Ask yourself what is it that convinces you that the last person you spoke with (in real life) was actually conscious? I assert that the entire matter is a 'fictional certainty' based on assumption of shared nature. "They are conscious because I am".