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MEL SELLICK's avatar

Great overview of Anil Seth’s paper. For me, the point is not whether AI ever becomes sentient. It’s when humans believe that it is... and unconsciously treat it like it is... that society will be altered. I said this a few weeks ago to some of the U.S.’s top STEM scholars at a conference. A few were curious, one shrugged his shoulders, and another said, “wow… humans probably are really that stupid.”

But let's be fair-- it's a matter of vulnerability, not stupidity. Big Tech utilizes persuasive psychology and neuroscience in every aspect of design, while the average person has little clue (or ability) to counter the most basic of manipulations. Training future scientists to think about philosophical and psychological consequences of tech they create is essential--- yet it's often not required in higher ed. It should be.

(P.S. In my interactions with Anil years ago, he was always incredibly generous and humble. He turned me on to Andy Clark's extended mind thesis back in the day...:-)

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Robert Madelin's avatar

One non-expert thought. If our consciousness is unreproducible because somehow Quantum, can the unpredictable future paths of Quantum computers possibly reopen new possibilities of reproducing consciousness? If not, why not?...

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