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0 pointsChrisKnott1y ago0 comments

I agree that with current LLMs the error goes the other way; they appear more conscious than they are, compared to, say, crows or octopuses which appear less conscious than they actually are.

My point is that "appears conscious" is really the only test there is. In what way is a human that says "that hurts" really feeling pain? What about Stephen Hawking "saying it", what about if he could only communicate through printed paper etc etc. You can always play this dial-down-the-consciousness game.

People used to say fish don't feel pain, they are "merely responding to stimulus".

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mewpmewp21y ago

The only actual difference in my view is that somehow we feel that we are so uber special. Besides that, it seems there's no reason to believe that we are anything more than chemical signals. But the fact that we have this strong "feeling" that we are special refuses us to admit that. I feel like I'm special, I feel like I exist. That's the only argument for being more than something else.

asdf69691y ago

> I feel like I exist.

This is pretty much the only thing in the world that you can definitely prove to yourself. It’s not a feeling

pixl971y ago

Hell, people used to say other people of different races don't feel pain, so we're not a great group to ask because of our biases and motivations.

jyounker1y ago

I'm pretty sure that there are still people around who believe that to some degree.

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