How philosophy of mind can shape the future
Philosophy of Mind in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries July 6, 2018 DOI: 10.4324/9780429508127-13 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Key points | Argues that future technological developments in AI and brain enhancement will introduce new philosophical issues, including the extended mind hypothesis and mind uploading. |
Abstract
A bright metallic thread of future-oriented thinking runs through the tapestry of the philosophy of mind, especially in those parts of the fi eld that have grappled with the possibility of minds as machines. Can a robot feel pain? Can a suitably programmed computer think actual thoughts? Could humans survive the total replacement of their nervous system by neural prosthetics? As the pace of technological change quickens, what was once purely speculative is becoming more and more real. As society moves further into the 21st century, what are the ways that philosophy of mind can shape the future? What challenges will the future bring to the discipline? In this chapter, we examine a few suggestive possibilities. We begin with what we suspect will be a game changer – the development of AI and artifi cial general intelligence (AGI). We then turn to radical brain enhancements, urging that the future will likely introduce exciting new issues involving (inter alia) the extended mind hypothesis, the epistemology of evaluating the thoughts of vastly smarter beings, mind uploading, and more.