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0 pointsyreg2y ago0 comments

> The opposite view -- that machine "emotions" are anything even remotely ontologically or morally similar to human emotions -- is extremely fringe.

Uhh, no?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functionalism_(philosophy_of_m...

In modern philosophy of mind it's a mainstream view that organic wetware is not required for experiencing qualia.

Of course I'm not saying that LLMs are conscious, but the idea of conscious computer software being possible is not at all fringe.

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ke88y2y ago

Functionalism, consciousness, and experiencing qualia are radically different questions.

I believe it's possible in theory to simulate a human brain on silicon, and that this simulation would have something like consciousness and would experience qualia if somehow embedded.

I don't think that such a simulation would be ontologically or morally similar to an actual human.

You can call this spiritual if you want. But most people care more about humans than computers, even if the computers behave like humans.

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