Can AI Become Conscious?
Am I the only one who thinks the answer is <i>obviously</i> yes, and that it's kind of a waste of time to ponder it? It reminds me of discussions of free will -- completely boring because, even if we are all finite state machines (and we are, in some sense) then random inputs would mean we have free will and random inputs are assured by, for example, chaotic variations in the weather. In the same way, consciousness is pretty clearly characterized by a pattern that is constantly in motion, sensing both itself and the outside world. The only reason we think there's something magical about the phenomena is the residue of traditional religious beliefs.<p>One point against the traditional belief is that if you've ever read Aristotle you might be shocked to learn that the Greeks of antiquity believed that "soul" was quite physical, expressing itself in blood, semen, etc. The medieval characterization of mental illness as being an "imbalance of the humors" comes from this early idea about how we work. Needless to say, the definition of soul has retreated entirely into the metaphysical, where it's cannot be disproven, by definition.