What if all of human behavior is computable, but not all of human experience is computable?
When Searle (and that apparent disciple of his who sometimes visits this list ... I don't remember the name now) start ranting that you couldn't possibly make an AGI without "brain physics," I think they're quite mistaken. I don't have any problem identifying intelligence with information processing or computation, in which case any computing device can be intelligent, regardless of its physical architecture. And intelligence alone is adequate to drive human-like behavior. However, if your goal is not AGI but APC (Artificial Phenomenal Consciousness), Searle and friends might have a point. Consciousness is not a subset of thinking; it is rather, to use one of Matt's own definitions, "what it *feels like* to think." It's quite easy for me to imagine a thinking machine that cannot feel itself thinking, or a positive reinforcement loop that doesn't experience its own convergence. *Maybe* consciousness inheres in certain kinds of computation, but I find it just as possible that it's generated by something particular about our wetware. Since consciousness isn't directly detectable in any entity but oneself, and it's pretty hard to make dramatic changes to one's own brain *in situ*, we may never know for certain which layer(s) of the brain produce those feelings and experiences: the computational "algorithms," or the underlying electrochemistry. Consciousness and qualia are not religious concepts, and need not have anything to do with souls. Those of us who are religious may tell religious stories about consciousness, and many other obviously real phenomena ... but being an atheist doesn't obligate anyone to disbelieve in or to minimize their own consciousness. Especially since it's an empirical fact. Feelings can mislead, they can *produce* illusions, but the feelings themselves are never illusory. Personally, I am here for AGI, not APC, and I regard the two as distinct. Also, the possibility of uploading or reconstructing my mind in silicon doesn't form any part of the reason for my interest in AGI, so I don't need to bother about the question of whether an upload would still be "me." All of that to say: my opinions about where consciousness comes from, whether souls exist, and whether APC is possible are *irrelevant* to my ability to regard AGI as possible or human behavior as computable. ------------------------------------------ Artificial General Intelligence List: AGI Permalink: https://agi.topicbox.com/groups/agi/Tc32c76a0c85e2ca9-M89004bc9135e7c7c542d6abc Delivery options: https://agi.topicbox.com/groups/agi/subscription
