Moral Implications of Consciousness: Transhuman and Posthuman Beingshoods in Bjørn Vatne’s Død og Oppstandelse and Ian McEwan’s Machines Like Me
Maria Larsson Pedersen
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that literary depictions of characters attempting to imagine machine consciousness reveal limits in humans' ability to understand a foreign mind and expose assumptions about human cognition and the 'natural' human. Contends that conflicts between readers' and protagonists' views of AI consciousness invite ethical judgment of human behavior toward machines and raise questions about how we perceive and attribute mental life to other beings. |
Abstract
This thesis delves into the topic of consciousness in artificial intelligence (AI) and the moral implications involved by looking into the Norwegian novelist Bjørn Vatne's Død og Oppstandelse ("death and resurrection"; my trans.)and the British novelist Ian McEwan's Machines Like Me.Chapters 1 and 2 analyze the various techniques each novel's protagonist utilizes to imagine and conceptualize a machine's processing system (whether it could reach something akin to consciousness) to contemplate what those observations and conclusions can tell us more generally about humans' ability to understand a foreign "mind" like an intelligent machine, and also, what the machines reflect about humans' cognitive function and the future of the "natural" human.Chapter 3 examines conflicts between readers' and protagonists' conception of AIs as conciouness to reflect on how that invites ethical condemnation of humans' behavior toward machines and consider whether those judgments suppose there are lessons to be had in consideration of humans' ability to perceive and attribute mental life (consciousness) to other beings, and what it means to treat them accordingly.This thesis is a response to the recent and significant advancements in AI technology, which calls for a closer inspection of whether AI will force us to reconsider the significance of consciousness and humanity and the moral and ethical implication involved when the realm separating humans and machines begins to blur.