SgathTriallair t1_irs6ltg wrote on October 10, 2022 at 5:07 PM

More or less, consciousness is the ability for s system to see itself. I am conscious because I have thoughts and I know I am having those thoughts.

I would argue that machines are already conscious, in the same way that rats and bugs are, just to a much lesser degree.

What really separates humans is out ability to imagine and plan for the future. That is the trait we really use to separate "intelligent" and "not-intelligent". This is what we mean by AGI so if we achieve AGI we will, definitionally, have achieved this ability to imagine.

Rumianti6 OP t1_irs9an5 wrote on October 10, 2022 at 5:25 PM

Consciousness is the ability to have experience. Machines aren't already conscious, you are free to try proving they are but you will fail. Ultimately you can't 100% prove something is conscious or not due to our limited understanding of consciousness and the constant shifting of what conscious means.

What separates humans is mostly language.

SgathTriallair t1_irsqvsf wrote on October 10, 2022 at 7:23 PM

This is a question debated by philosophers.

Everything experiences things, i.e. stuff happens to everything. The consciousness is KNOWING that something is happening to you. So again, you receive stimuli, you then analyze that stimuli, and then you do analysis of the analysis. That's it, there isn't anymore woo woo behind that.

Your point about language shows the real crucial question though. As Turing pointed out, if it can accomplish all the things that we use intelligence for, then we should assume it is intelligent. I can't view your consciousness either but I assume it exists because your outward demeanor is the same as one who had consciousness.