Taffy Lewis

I'm interested in anyone's opinions on these matters.

Could there be a robot or computer which is not conscious yet capable of performing any action or engaging in any behavior that a human can?

Also, can there be conscious computers or conscious machines which are not organically based?

Alonzo Fyfe

If one were to make a machine that can do everything a human can do, and not be consciousness, the result would be to prove that consciousness itself does not exist.

Because, if there is no real-world event for consciousness to explain, then by Occham's Razor we have no reason to postulate its existence.

John Page

Any action? If physical action then yes.
Any behavior? I don't think so because this would require contemplation of the conscious self. However, this is going to be a tricky one until we separate conscious/non-conscious properties in order to have an effective (Turing machine type?) test.
Why not? Maybe our consciousness is not an organic phenomenon although our bodies partly are.

Cheers, John

Keith Russell

Greetings:

I don't know whether it is possible for a machine to ever be built which would think like a human, but I do wonder why we'd want to build such a thing. (Eventually, I believe it will be possible, but maybe not in my lifetime. I'm 36.)

We need machines to do what we cannot; either physically (machines can be much stronger than we are, and can operate in envionments where we cannot, and are far more accurate and tireless) or mentally (machines can perform complex computations extremely quickly and without error, and can memorize and store far more data than we can).

But, for creative thinking, lateral thinking, and intuitive ability, people still 'work' just fine.

And if it ain't broke, why fix it, or try to improve upon it?

Keith.

[ July 12, 2002: Message edited by: Keith Russell ]</p>

John Page

Would it be possible to invent a conscious being that had not possibility of being a theist?

Cheers, John

Synaesthesia

Taffy Lewis:
Yes, with one major proviso: If it could replicate all our behavior without having something which could meaningfully be called consciousness it would not produce behavnior in the same way that we do. So if we made a big machine that functionally operated in much the same manner as humans, and exibited the same capabilities, it would certainly be conscious.

Of course this is science fiction right now, that would be a far from easy task, the former more impractical and stunningly complex than the latter. (The human brain is probably quite optimized as it is)

snatchbalance

I don't know why it would need to replicate human, or any other animal behavior, to be considered to be conscious.

"It" would simply need to be aware that it occupied some "place" in the universe. I think consciounes is embodied in the ability to seperate from the rest of the stuff out there, and to be aware of that seperation.

So, there are all different types of consiousness, human being only one.

Any "real" consiousnes must be organic. It must be able to "feel". Computation alone is ersatz consiousnes.

SB

[ July 12, 2002: Message edited by: snatchbalance ]</p>

John Page

Why is being organic necessary to feel?

tronvillain

Apparently snatchbalance is committed to some type of vitalism - a position that is, as far as I can tell, completely without support.

tronvillain

As for Taffy Lewis' question, I would have to answer "Maybe." I think it very well might be possible to construct something that could perfectly imitate a human without in fact being conscious, but it would probably be much harder than constructing something conscious.