> Who says an extremely advanced ML algorithm can't 'want' to do this? What even is wanting?
I believe this is the real question about consciousness. If a being were to be conscious but it had no desires, no wishes, not even a will to keep itself alive... it wouldn't bother to do anything... i.e. it would behave exactly like a rock, or anything non-conscious.
Having desires, wishes, and should I say, emotions... is absolutely required for what we think of as consciousness to materialize. But we know that emotions are chemical processes which perhaps cannot occur outside a biological being. Maybe it can, but it's hard to think of a reasonable way this could work.
This seems like begging the question. Who says an extremely advanced ML algorithm can't 'want' to do this? What even is wanting?
> I mean in practice we don't find this too hard right now if the other person is reasonable—a 15-minute conversation usually suffices —but I imagine from your ptior question you're dreaming of, say, a future with robots that routinely pass the Turing test?
I'm not. These are absolutely situations that can happen now, with people. I am thinking more when it comes to mental and some physical impairments, so "a 15 minute conversation" is assuming a lot about the capabilities and clarity of everyone involved.