(September 1, 2021 at 5:34 pm)vulcanlogician Wrote: I don't think there is anything magical about consciousness. But it is a mystery. For example, some people think that a computer with sufficient complexity might become conscious. Is that how consciousness works? We don't know. What if it is just something related to biological entities? Then the question is: why? What is it about biological entities that produces consciousness?
Consciousness is a mundane thing. Nothing magical about it. But there is something about it we don't quite understand. Maybe something fundamental to reality. And those sorts of things get philosophers very interested. If we knew, for example, that a computer of sufficient complexity would or would not be conscious, that'd be a different story. But we have no idea.
Complexity (for instance, larger brains with more connections) may have something to do with the richness of conscious experience, and the level of intelligence, but I think it is a particular mode of operation that results in conscious experience. Once we understand it, re-creating that mode of operation should be entirely possible in a machine. It may require creating a brain analog that starts as a baby and learns to experience the world, and it may require some sort of body analog to gain a sense of self.
As some have pointed out, this is scary, as the rate of learning could become exponential, and there is no way of knowing how it will turn out. Just don't connect it to the nukes.
