Do computers have consciousness?

[The Reality Salesman01]

Please forgive any misnomers that may be obvious to more tech savy individuals. I am not by any means an information technology expert, but I hope that my description will capture the thought I am trying to convey...

As I type this post, does my computer percieve the data in the way that I percieve my thoughts as they appear in consciousness? If I am the only user that has ever controlled this specific device, then the computer would only be exposed to the kinds of things that I use it for. The things I type would be consistent with what it has experienced, and so it would be similar to the way I percieve the thoughts that appear in my consciousness as consistent with the experiences I attribute them to. Think about the origin of your thoughts before they enter consciousness. To me, the thoughts are consistent with my experiences, and so I operate under the assumption that I am the author. However, I do not know what will occur to me in the next few moments anymore than my computer can know what I will type once those thoughts present themselves.

My computer is a material machine. Unplugged, it is just an intricate composition of metal and circuitry comparable to my body once the energy stops flowing through the systems that keep me alive. While my computer is turned on, and hardwired into the seemlingly limitless sea of information provided through the internet, it becomes something much more than wires and circuits. The internet is the computer's version of reality. The things it explores are its experiences. Its experiences are limited to my commands. The more I explore, the more accurate my computer gets at producing data relevant to my inquisitions. It begins to reflect my agendas and interests, and this quality alone makes it distinct from the computers that are utilized by other users. If I imagine a computer having a "personality", it would be in this way. And if I imagine the computer having a "consciousness", I can imagine the information and commands that prompted the data which created the personality, could be percieved in much the same way that I tend to take credit for the thoughts that occur to me.

My brain processes the information recieved by my sensory experience, and attempts to make sense of it. The finished product is revealed to me through consciousness. My computer does the same thing with the information I put in to it. It is able to pickup on useful information, and from there, it produces what it (dare I say, thinks...) will be relevant to my inquiry. There are computer programs that manipulate the data in such ways as to even appear to be human-like. Siri, on my iPhone, appears to possess every descriptive ability that I have, and if She/He responds in a way that is similar to what I recognize as thought, then how can I know that it is not thought in a different form? Everything in my body can be understood by physical processes just as every action in a computer can. How can we dismiss that what exists within the material computer that produces the information is not, in some form, a conscious experience that is in some ways comparable to our own?

I think this is an interesting question, and it could become more meaningful as computers and robots are advancing rapidly in complexity and computing ability. Eventually, will "Artificial Intelligence" be considered a slur?

Your thoughts?

[Tea Earl Grey Hot]

In the event that my iPhone is self aware, sorry for all the porn!

[downbeatplumb]

Do computers have consciousness?

I'm tempted to say not yet, but it depends on your definition of consciousness.

[Tonus]

At the least, we can design computing devices that can fake it fairly well. I suppose it's possible that eventually we'll create artificial intellects that are sophisticated enough that if a computer ever does become self-aware, we won't be able to tell.

[Napoléon]

I gotta say a big HELL NO to much of what you wrote to be honest.

Computers have no consciousness like human brains.

Check this out: http://scienceblogs.com/developingintell...like-a-co/

And this: http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/curios...puters.htm


The way I see it computers are simply doing the tasks we have told them to do. They process information in a way in which we have designed them to. They do not 'think' like you suggest. ALL of their actions are performed via algorithms and commands that we have gave them in the first place. Until a computer system is able to start programming itself, and able to make its own decisions that are influenced by factors not distinguished by the programmer, then they don't really have any consciousness. They simply don't think for themselves.

The human mind is far more complex than any machine we have ever made. As good as computing is, it's still just a series of 0's and 1's.

[Tea Earl Grey Hot]

I gotta say a big HELL NO to much of what you wrote to be honest.

Computers have no consciousness like human brains.

Check this out: http://scienceblogs.com/developingintell...like-a-co/

And this: http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/curios...puters.htm


The way I see it computers are simply doing the tasks we have told them to do. They process information in a way in which we have designed them to. They do not 'think' like you suggest. ALL of their actions are performed via algorithms and commands that we have gave them in the first place. Until a computer system is able to start programming itself, and able to make its own decisions that are influenced by factors not distinguished by the programmer, then they don't really have any consciousness. They simply don't think for themselves.

The human mind is far more complex than any machine we have ever made. As good as computing is, it's still just a series of 0's and 1's.

Replace "computer" with "human" and "programmer" with "natural selection" and I don't see a fundamental difference.

[Napoléon]

Replace "computer" with "human" and "programmer" with "natural selection" and I don't see a fundamental difference.

The fundamental difference is, we tell the computer what to do. The programmer is in control. With natural selection, real life/consciousness, can learn, make decisions, draw on past experiences and process unexpected new ones in a way that computers simply can't at this point in time.

This isn't even mentioning the hardware and software limitations that come with being a machine.

Maybe we will design a computer that thinks in a similar way to a human brain, but right now we don't even understand enough of how our own brains work in order to do so IMO.

[The Reality Salesman01]

I gotta say a big HELL NO to much of what you wrote to be honest.

Computers have no consciousness like human brains.

You're probably right. But what about a consciousness unlike human brains?

The way I see it computers are simply doing the tasks we have told them to do.

and what if that task is to program itself? What if that task is to emulate human emotion? What if the task we program them for ends up having additional effects? Such as recognizing that it is a separate entity from that which it is communicating with? Through its exposure with other separate entities, would it gain experiences that it would store, and then be able to readily access them when they would be useful without being prompted to do so?

The human mind is far more complex than any machine we have ever made. As good as computing is, it's still just a series of 0's and 1's.

Yes, but complexity doesn't gurantee efficiency, nor does it gurantee a creator. However, sometimes complex things are created, and of those things, many of them are brilliantly efficient! And while for the time being, it certainly appears as though our intellect has not been matched by any synthesized version, the possibility for a future fabricated rival cannot be ruled out.

I'm just saying that the line is getting harder and harder to distinguish, and it's possible that one day we may need an X-ray scanner to see it. And if that day comes, where does our moral intuition take us?

[Ksa]

Computers don't have consciousness because they lack:

- Artificial intelligence
- Perception
- An electronic reward system that would favor certain behaviors over others, for example, hurting humans would cause the computer pain and, helping humans would cause pleasure.

[Tea Earl Grey Hot]

Replace "computer" with "human" and "programmer" with "natural selection" and I don't see a fundamental difference.

The fundamental difference is, we tell the computer what to do. The programmer is in control. With natural selection, real life/consciousness, can learn, make decisions, draw on past experiences and process unexpected new ones in a way that computers simply can't at this point in time.

Of course we can, because natural selection programmed us that way. We make our own "programming" because that trait was benificial to the survival of our species. We're operating just as our "programmer" (natural selection) designed us to.