Mary Martin

One might point out that movie characters or videogame NPCs give off a similarly deceiving impression of being conscious, and yet it would surely be extreme to condemn this. However, what makes the illusion particularly worrying in the case of AI companions is that it involves an interaction that is direct, mutual, and persistent: the feigned... See more

The idea that all our choices are determined by past events may seem dispiriting – but it can be emotionally liberating

What I’d like to do here is first introduce the MWI to first show you what it is. I’ll compare it to the standard introductory textbook view of QM which is called the Copenhagen Interpretation. I’ll then show you what MWI implies about the nature of the world and how this differs from other interpretations, with a specific emphasis on what each... See more

“I think in 50 or 100 years time we will have discovered the entity that is consciousness,” he told me. “It will be taken for granted that it wasn’t produced by the brain, and it doesn’t die when you die.”

Unlike humans, AI can’t flexibly navigate changing environments yet because it does not have a notion of its “self” and what it can do with it.

One problem is that consciousness means different things to different people. For example, some researchers focus on the subjective experience — what it is like to be you or me. Others study its function — cognitive processes and behaviours enabled by being conscious. These differences muddy attempts to compare ideas.

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