samuelnotjackson t1_iufem0v wrote on October 30, 2022 at 10:24 PM

While it is possible to conceive of a consciousness with extremely limited memory, I would think all forms of temporal sensation, let alone consciousness, imply an inate requirement of memory whether milliseconds or decades. Somewhere between a bacterium, c.elegans and a tadpole, there exists an evolutionary path of memory where actual sentience could be defined.

tornpentacle t1_iug9l11 wrote on October 31, 2022 at 2:19 AM

Consciousness is simply awareness of sensory input.

SwansonHOPS t1_iugk7ic wrote on October 31, 2022 at 3:50 AM

I'm not so sure. What if someone had no sensory input? Like they are completely blind, deaf, no tactile sensations, can't detect gravity, etc. Could they be conscious? Could they still form thoughts that they are aware of?

I'd say consciousness is simply awareness. Not necessarily of sensory inputs, but of anything.

sphulcrum t1_iuh5vdb wrote on October 31, 2022 at 8:45 AM

What a gotcha moment....

The creature you're describing doesn't exist. If you're talking about a human that has no working sensory inputs ,its brain would still be wired in the same way as if they do work. Hence it would indeed have conscious thoughts.

Whatdosheepdreamof t1_iuhlky5 wrote on October 31, 2022 at 12:09 PM

You want to know the actual gotcha moment in this? This is why AI will never materialise in the fashion that most think will take over humans. It is simply this. That our minds and bodies are the same thing. They cannot work separately. If there were an AI capable of thinking like we do, it likely would come to a singular conclusion, that there is no point. We exist to avoid death and reproduce, and there are hormones built into our existence that ensure this happens.

kaveldun t1_iugx7yy wrote on October 31, 2022 at 6:32 AM

That dumb definition just pushes the question futher:
- What is "awareness"?
- What is "sensory input"?

Is something weighing on a see-saw "sensory input" to that system? Is electricity coming into a light bulb "sensory input"? Is there "awareness" involved? How could you possibly know?

You're talking about these things as if you know them for fact, but fact is that science is dumb-founded when it comes to even agreeing on a definition for what consciousness and subjective awareness even is, or how to think about it.

deviltamer t1_iuhda3z wrote on October 31, 2022 at 10:34 AM

All animals are conscious by this definition