Re:The Consciousness Gradient: When Machines Begin to Wonder
by A_D_E_P_T on Sunday June 29, 2025 @12:09PM
(#44414173)
> There are certainly big missing pieces too though -- like the article talks about, physical grounding
I think that it may be possible to view consciousness as the combination of three things:
(1) A generalizable predictive function, capable of broad abstraction. (2) A sense of being in space. (3) A sense of being in time. (#2 and #3 can be combined into a "spatiotemporal sense.")
Animals have #2 and #3 in spades, but lack #1. LLMs possess #1 to a degree that can defeat any human, but lack #2 and #3. Without a sense of being in space and time, it's not clear that they are capable of possessing consciousness as we understand it.
I think that it may be possible to view consciousness as the combination of three things:
(1) A generalizable predictive function, capable of broad abstraction. (2) A sense of being in space. (3) A sense of being in time. (#2 and #3 can be combined into a "spatiotemporal sense.")
Animals have #2 and #3 in spades, but lack #1. LLMs possess #1 to a degree that can defeat any human, but lack #2 and #3. Without a sense of being in space and time, it's not clear that they are capable of possessing consciousness as we understand it.