My latest fascination is driving me a little insane…
What is consciousness? What does consciousness really mean? Most answers I’ve gotten back so far involve awareness of self, and that only human, and possibly animals can have consciousness…. From a high level perspective, I can agree that there’s truth in that. But somewhere inside, I don’t think consciousness, at least not my interpretation of this word, is exclusive to man and animals… At the risk of sounding crazy, I must say, I think there is some kind of low level consciousness taking place through our technology today. I know, the moment I say that, most people, and I mean 99%, think I’m insane to think computers have consciousness. To me, it is not a fair game we’ve played here. Computers are only as smart, intelligent, or conscious as humans can make it. We make them based on the premise and limitations of our understanding of our brian, mind or both, depending on who you ask. And since we do not fully understand even how our brains/minds work, can we really fully deny any consciousness to the by-products of our intelligence that are created to mimic our brain?
Due to this topic, I’ve already had hours of ‘arguments’ with Alex, clearly he is one of the 99% population that disagrees with my mentality. Usually his ration, his thorough reasoning, his persistence and his desire to win eventually brings me on board or makes me fall completely off the wagon and take the easier route to agree to disagree… But this time, for whatever the reason, something inside me do not agree and do not want to drop the topic… so here I am, on the journey of searching, for exactly what is it that makes me feel a computer can have consciousness. The search for clarity.
Since the first mental excursion, I’ve talked very briefly to a few more people, one friend mentioned the Chinese Room argument by John Searle. Fascinating, but difficult to read! I’m still reading it… Actually, I just printed it out, so I can read it slower and write notes on it as I read. Kinda feel like I’m back to student life again… But that is fascinating too, gotta give the mind something to chew on from time to time….
it is not at all crazy—in a recent post of mine i discuss the film 2001 a space odyssey — where the computer hal, learns he is about to be distroyed and over powers the consciousness of man
http://freeassociations.wordpress.com/2010/03/25/kryptonite/
i appreciate your comment, but there is still a big gap between film and reality. perhaps one day, in fact i do think one day, we will understand ourselves enough to create a machine that can evolve in a way that 99% of human can call it conscious… when such day comes, let’s just hope, like raising children today, we will create a machine with compassion and love!