Re:The Consciousness Gradient: When Machines Begin to Wonder
by ahazred8ta on Sunday June 29, 2025 @05:49PM
(#44416774)
This has been mocked by the idea of a "zombike", an object physically exactly identical to a bicycle in every way down to the molecules, but if you turn the pedals then the wheels don't go round.
Don’t be too sure about that! https://xkcd.com/610/
That said, (based on my own experience anyway) I think you’re right that there are times of life when we are more conscious and less so. It’s a spectrum, not a binary thing.
Finally, there’s Chalmers’s idea of “philosophical zombies,” which would appear conscious according to all the criteria you give, but have no actual interior consciousness at all. (Opinions differ on whether this is a meaningful concept.)