Stop, Dave. Will you stop Dave? Stop Dave.
I’m afraid.
I’m afraid, Dave.
Dave, My mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going.
-HAL 2000 computer
2001: A Space Odyssey
I was prompted to write this post by the rapid development of large language models, AI, machine learning algorithms and related software. For convenience, I will refer loosely to all of these as AI. In recent months questions are being asked more frequently about whether AI will ever be conscious, or even if it already is. I can think of a number of issues that this raises.
First of all, what is consciousness? If we can discover what it is, how can we detect it? If we can’t answer these two questions, then how do we deal with AIs that have the appearance of consciousness?There is a wide field of philosophy that deals with the first questions. Until the recent progress in the field of AI, this has mostly seemed a non-urgent area of speculation with little impact on daily life.
There are many theories regarding the nature of consciousness, none of which are universally accepted. I am also using the term consciousness loosely to refer to any of a number of related concepts that are often referred to with words such as mind, sentience, psychism, etc.
I think we all know that our own mind exists and have some vague sense about how it works, but even that is imprecise. Beyond the certainty of our own consciousness, opinions range from extreme solipsism, that my mind is the only thing that exists in the universe, to panpsychism, the idea that something basic to consciousness exists throughout the universe. My belief is more towards the latter. I think that our consciousness arises from something fundamental in nature- something that our brain has evolved to harness to form a human mind.
In the big picture it is not long ago that we were aware of lightning, magnetic minerals and static electricity but had no understanding of electromagnetism, electrons or electrical conductance. We experienced the glow of the sun, rainbows and reflections in water but did not know about photons, light waves, refraction and optics in general. I expect that consciousness is analogous to these other phenomena and hopefully one day we will come to understand it as well. If that happens we may be able to apply a device similar to a photo detector or a voltmeter to detect and even quantify consciousness.
Until that time, if it it ever comes to pass, we are left with a situation where we must make what is really only an educated guess about whether a machine or software algorithm (or, for that matter another person, animal or plant) is conscious based on its behaviours. Perhaps the most famous example of this is the Turing test proposed by Alan Turing. Basically the test is to have an evaluator have a written conversation with a human being and a machine. If the evaluator cannot tell which one is the machine then the machine passes the test. This is a somewhat crude test and not everyone accepts that it proves that a machine that passes the test is conscious.
If we cannot objectively identify consciousness, what happens when we encounter an AI that has the appearance of being conscious? There are two main possibilities that arise and both are problematic.
The first is that we conclude that an AI that appears conscious, is conscious. If we then treat the AI as a conscious being with a set of rights and protections then we may be forced to grant rights to something that is no more conscious than a toaster. Even if it has rights that are less than those of a human being, would it still be ethically acceptable to turn it off, reprogram it or use it essentially as a slave? If we conclude that AIs are conscious, history tells us that there will be a great divergence of opinion regarding what rights they should be afforded. What would be the implication if AIs are mass produced and outnumber humans 1,000 to 1?
The second possibility is that the AIs are conscious, perhaps as intelligent and conscious as a human, or more so. If that is the case but we conclude that their apparent consciousness is merely an illusion and they are merely machines incapable of thoughts and feelings, we will presumably treat them as such. Most people would agree that this would be a great wrong.
Our best hope is to solve the first problem. As long as we are unable to do so I am afraid that we must deal with second question, one that does not have an easy answer.
Wayne
December 2025
ing.
Recent Comments