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neuralbeans t1_jdmo56v wrote

Reply to comment by OriginalCompetitive in What happens if it turns out that being human is not that difficult to duplicate in a machine? What if we're just ... well ... copyable? by RamaSchneider

No I mean what is consciousness?

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OriginalCompetitive t1_jdnc1dl wrote

The fact that you ask me this makes me suspect that maybe you aren’t conscious.

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neuralbeans t1_jdnscjk wrote

Would you be able to tell if I didn't?

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OriginalCompetitive t1_jdnysrr wrote

I’ll save you some time. I can’t define it, I can’t test for it, I can’t even be sure that I was conscious in the past or if I’m simply inserting a false memory of having been conscious in the past when I actually wasn’t.

I feel like I can be sure that I’m conscious at this precise moment, though, and I think it’s a reasonable guess that I was conscious yesterday as well, and probably a reasonable guess that most other people experience some sort of conscious experience. For that reason I try not to impose needless suffering on other people even though I can’t be sure that they truly experience conscious suffering.

I think it’s possible that complex computers will never experience consciousness, and if I’m right, that would be a reason why we would be different than a complex computer.

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