We need a much more sophisticated debate about AI

Re:We need a much more sophisticated debate about AI by og_kalu on Wednesday April 05, 2023 @01:22PM (#35457510)

NPCs don't quack like people. There's a reason no one was seriously having this argument(s) with the likes of Eliza(which is a step up from pre-recorded response NPCs). This goes beyond superficial production of text.

In principle it's possible to track and reproduce all the neuron/synapse communications that happen in your brain in relation to any arbitrary input. Where's the subjective experience there?

As far as anyone knows, qualia is emergent. Individual neurons or synapses don't have any understanding of anything. Subjective experience comes from all those units working together.

A single ant doesn't display the intelligence/complexity of its colony.

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Re:We need a much more sophisticated debate about AI by root_axis on Wednesday April 05, 2023 @02:42PM (#35458668)

> In principle it's possible to track and reproduce all the neuron/synapse communications that happen in your brain in relation to any arbitrary input

This hypothetical is doing a lot of heavy lifting. The reality is that our understanding of the brain is exceedingly crude, a perceptron in software is not even close to the same thing as a neuron in the brain. A plane can never become a bird even though it is modeled after one.

> A single ant doesn't display the intelligence/complexity of its colony.

So do you think that an ant colony has subjective experience?

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Re:We need a much more sophisticated debate about AI by og_kalu on Wednesday April 05, 2023 @03:58PM (#35459623)

>This hypothetical is doing a lot of heavy lifting.

Not really. Point is that unless you believe in mysticism/magic/spiritualism behind consciousness in the brain then it doesn't matter because the only difference is degree of understanding not implausibility.

>So do you think that an ant colony has subjective experience? Sure it could. I don't know for sure. Nobody does. Humans don't see subjective experience. I can't prove that you have one. I'm just assuming you do. Same as you for anyone else.

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Re:We need a much more sophisticated debate about AI by root_axis on Wednesday April 05, 2023 @04:32PM (#35459971)

> Sure it could. I don't know for sure. Nobody does.

Yet your comments don't reflect that kind of skepticism when referring to LLMs. However, if you're fine with the panpyschist conclusions that follow from your reasoning, we don't have much to disagree on.

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