Lots of strange things in math and computational science arise from recursion, so “a system that can think about itself” does sound like it might have something special going on. If we’re looking for consciousness in a purely materialistic/emergent way, rather than just posit it via dualism or panpsychism, I genuinely can’t think of many other serious leads to pursue.
Lots of strange things in math and computational science arise from recursion, so “a system that can think about itself” does sound like it might have something special going on. If we’re looking for consciousness in a purely materialistic/emergent way, rather than just posit it via dualism or panpsychism, I genuinely can’t think of many other serious leads to pursue.