Implementing artificial consciousness
Mind & Language November 17, 2024 Leonard Dung, Luke Kersten 4 citations
Some philosophers argue that conventional silicon-based artificial systems cannot be conscious because they fail to meet certain substantive constraints on how computations are physically implemented. This article challenges those constraints, finding them implausible or poorly supported because they confuse general intuitions about computation with specific intuitions about consciousness. The authors propose that the mechanistic account of computation can better explain the intuitions behind these views while remaining consistent with the possibility of artificial consciousness. Their argument indirectly supports computationalism about consciousness and the idea that conventional artificial systems could be conscious.