Category: Mind and AI

When should we consider an AI a fellow being?

Fears of AI (artificial intelligence) are still showing up the media, most recently with another quote from Stephen Hawking warning that it might be the end of us, with Elon Musk, due to his own anxious statements, now being referenced whenever the subject comes up.  I've written many times before why I think these fears … Continue reading When should we consider an AI a fellow being? →

Massimo Pigliucci’s pessimistic view of mind uploading

Massimo Pigliucci wrote a paper on his skepticism of the possibility of mind uploading, the idea that our minds are information which it might be possible someday to copy into a computer virtual reality system or some other type of technology.  His paper appears to be one chapter in a broader book, 'Intelligence Unbound: The Future … Continue reading Massimo Pigliucci’s pessimistic view of mind uploading →

The attention schema theory of consciousness deserves your…attention

Michael Graziano published a brief article in the New York Times on his attention schema theory of consciousness, which a number of my fellow bloggers have linked to and discussed.  I'm not sure this article was the clearest description of it that he's given, and I suspect the title biased readers to think his theory is another consciousness-is-an-illusion … Continue reading The attention schema theory of consciousness deserves your…attention →

Survival machines versus engineered machines; why fears of AI are misguided

I've seen a lot of posts lately like this one by Ronald Bailey looking at Nick Bostrom's book on the dangers of AI.  People never seem to get tired of talking about the dangers of AI.  And stories about AIs who revolt against humanity are pretty much a staple of science fiction. I've written before on … Continue reading Survival machines versus engineered machines; why fears of AI are misguided →

David Chalmers: How do you explain consciousness?

In this TED talk, David Chalmers gives a summary of the problem whose name he coined, the hard problem of consciousness. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhRhtFFhNzQ via David Chalmers: How do you explain consciousness? - YouTube. It seems like people who've contemplated consciousness fall into two groups, those who are bothered by the hard problem, and those who are not. … Continue reading David Chalmers: How do you explain consciousness? →

What does the Turing Test really mean?

The Turing Test is in the news this week, first with a wave of hype about a historical accomplishment, then with a secondary wave of skeptical scrutiny. The Turing Test was originally contemplated by Alan Turing in a 1950 paper.  Turing envisaged it as an alternative to trying to determine if a machine could think. … Continue reading What does the Turing Test really mean? →

Consciousness: the interpreter, the lexicographer, the reporter

I recently read Michael Gazzaniga's book, 'Who's in Charge: Free Will and the Science of the Brain'.  Gazzaniga, working with Roger Sperry, performed some of the famous split-brain patient experiments.  The results of these experiments had implications for our understandings of consciousness, the self, and free will. In patients with certain types of severe epileptic … Continue reading Consciousness: the interpreter, the lexicographer, the reporter →

Is consciousness in control? Does it matter?

A new scientific paper claims to describe an experiment that shows that consciousness controls our actions.  From the paper: These results indicate that conscious intentions govern motor function… until today, it was unclear whether conscious motor intention exists prior to movement, or whether the brain constructs such an intention after movement initiation. The Neuroskeptic takes … Continue reading Is consciousness in control? Does it matter? →

Is the United States conscious?

I saw this interesting post by Eric Schwitzgebel on whether or not regarding the US as a conscious entity is compatible with materialism.  In the post, he examines an objection by David Chalmers, which is interesting, but not something that particularly resonates with me, seeming like a just so rational to a pre-intuited conclusion.  Eric also … Continue reading Is the United States conscious? →