(May 10, 2012 at 12:45 pm)ChadWooters Wrote: I’m not so sure of that. Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 35: The Measure of a Man explores this problem in an interesting dramatic form.
Never seen it.
(May 10, 2012 at 12:45 pm)ChadWooters Wrote: The simulation of outward human behavior doesn’t prove that the machine has an interior subjective experience.
Isn't that what I just said? To properly simulate consciousness, your machine should have the capacity for sensations and self-awareness.
(May 10, 2012 at 12:45 pm)ChadWooters Wrote: In my opinion, no one can experience someone else’s subjective consciousness, which is what you are describing, not a link in the causal chain.
That is most certainly not what I'm describing. The mechanism in place that gives rise to and effects your subjective experience is a part of your identity. The only way I could have that experience is if I had that mechanism and then it'd be a part of my identity. Which means I'd be you.
(May 10, 2012 at 12:45 pm)ChadWooters Wrote: Perhaps if some cybernetic link could be formed between an organic brain and a machine consciousness and if the sensory input from the machine was radically different for the machine (like echo-location), and if the human experience a whole different set of qualia, THEN I would consider that very compelling evidence of machine consciousness. But that’s a lot of ‘ifs’.
No, you wouldn't. Because, for the duration of the link, the machine and human consciousnesses wouldn't exist separately and would be considered a singular consciousness - neither human nor machine. You would not be able to say for certain that the machine had a consciousness for a fact because the basic parts which define a consciousness are already present in the human brain and therefore would automatically be a part of this new consciousness.
