ronting the consciousness
We all know what it means to be conscious and imagine that others are aware as well. We have a voice, an apparent free will and agency, and a small person in our head who makes decisions, comments and is in control.
We don’t know if dogs are affected by this disease, but we’re fairly certain that sunflowers do not have deep philosophical doubts about the harvest of this year. But we’re pretty sure that we do.
We tend to avoid thinking about the most vivid moments of our lives, except for a few philosophers. The noise that we hear in our head can be a source of joy or stress.
AI is now. It’s important to understand what is going on inside my head and yours. Dennett’s Intentional Stance work is worth considering.
It works like this: First, you decide that the object whose behavior you want to predict is a rational agent. Then you determine what beliefs the agent should have based on its position in the world and purpose. You then determine what desires the agent should have, based on the same factors, and predict how it will act in light of those beliefs. In most cases, a little practical reasoning based on the selected set of beliefs and desired will lead to a conclusion about what the agent should do. That is what you expect the agent to do.
Imagine that your opponent is playing chess. This will make it easier for you to win. If we think of the rook as a person, then we can move more easily.
We imagine ourselves to be conscious and give that consciousness to the person in the negotiation or the driver in the opposite lane. It’s an effective shortcut for survival and may even be how we came to believe we were conscious.
We might not. Many fascinating studies have been done on the idea that free will is an illusory concept, and that we hear the voice in our heads after making a decision.
Most people who use AI know that it cannot have consciousness. However, it is human to imagine it has. I can’t even use chatgpt more than 3 minutes without thinking that it’s got a strange little person inside. It’s not easy to interact with the program because I don’t understand what it does.
It is not conscious. It is not conscious. There are turtles on the bottom.
I predict that we will revert back to our old habits and adopt an intentional stance towards AI. This might be the time to reflect (whatever this means in a universe without active consciousness), on the possibility that we are just like AIs… we’re wet electricity. The intentional stance, then, is a hack that evolved as a result of living in an increasingly complex world.
If we think of our brains as embeddings with probabilities… then that could be all they are. That could be fine. It could be a positive if it allows us to accept our current situation and find peace.
When we stop telling stories and focus on the present, we may be able to achieve the desired impact. It’s possible that the noise in our head is just noise.
