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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   32970 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 13, 2023

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If we don’t know what qualia is we can hardly replicate with machine learning tools.

That sounds very shaky logic though. You can cause an avalanche without understanding any physics. Two humans can produce a third human without knowing anything much about biology or genetics. Why, in theory, humans could not produce qualia in the machine without understanding what it is? I am not claiming that's what happened - in fact, I am pretty sure it didn't - but this logic step doesn't seem to be correct.

The cause of the avalanche is physics. The cause of the baby is genetics and sexual reproduction. The idea that consciousness can arise from machine algorithms, just magically, is Frankenstein.

I don't see why the consciousness arising from a mass of interconnected silicon blocks is, on its face, more ridiculous than the consciousness arising from a mass of wet jelly blobs. It looks like post hoc rationalization rather than a principle - of course the consciousness should be in this form, because it is in this form! But why exactly? Not enough complex connections? We're adding more all the time. I don't see an obvious boundary that says "below this it can't happen" - can you identify one?

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