Do computers have consciousness?

[MindForgedManacle]

As for my own views on consciousness, I'm not sure. I've actually been reading up on it lately and I'm, perhaps unsurprisingly, finding myseld arching towards the position of philosopher of mind/cognitive scientist Daniel Dennett, while still remaining skeptical of certain kinds of claims about consciousness.

I can't recommend Patricia Churchland's book Neurophilosophy highly enough. Beyond that, Dennett's Consciousness Explained, Elbow Room, and Antonio Damasio's Self Comes To Mind.

(Oh, and read Searle's original 1980 paper. Minds, Brains, and Programs I think?)

http://web.archive.org/web/2007121004331...grams.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_room

Thanks. Is the science and philosophy in Churchland's book difficult? I've read part of Dennett's "Elbow Room", and I've been meaning to get to "Consciousness Explained" for awhile too.


As a caution to others, stay away from Catholic philosopher Edward Feser's small intro. book to philosophy of mind. I mean it's not terrible, but Feser has an annoying and obvious axe to grind against a physicalist account of consciousness and mind. At least as far as I got in, he kept making very clear that apparent problems with dualist accounts were only apparent and that they don't pose a problem for dualism, and that possible pluses for physicalist accounts were only apparent, whilist dualist accounts actually do so. It started to annoy me too much, so I've never returned to his book.