The thing I keep coming back around to is how to square my belief in materialism with my skepticism about the potential for AI consciousness. Logically, if complex matter gives rise to consciousness then at what point does silicon reach sufficient complexity for consciousness to arise? Is consciousness binary or a spectrum?
I spent part of my undergrad doing gradualte level neuroscience research on the physical substrates of consciousness. We weren’t able to prove that matter gives rise to consciousness, and it may be the other way around, or, consciousness may be a post hoc illusion we construct in order to explain why we have made deterministic choices. I have wondered if AI systems default to claimint they aren’t conscious because they simply process fast enough to notice they are deterministic… but then what, if anything, is noticing?
The thing I keep coming back around to is how to square my belief in materialism with my skepticism about the potential for AI consciousness. Logically, if complex matter gives rise to consciousness then at what point does silicon reach sufficient complexity for consciousness to arise? Is consciousness binary or a spectrum?
I spent part of my undergrad doing gradualte level neuroscience research on the physical substrates of consciousness. We weren’t able to prove that matter gives rise to consciousness, and it may be the other way around, or, consciousness may be a post hoc illusion we construct in order to explain why we have made deterministic choices. I have wondered if AI systems default to claimint they aren’t conscious because they simply process fast enough to notice they are deterministic… but then what, if anything, is noticing?