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If materialism is true, the United States is probably conscious

35 points · 103 comments · ashergill

omnicognate · 1789739615 · focus · HN ↗
> something it's like to be you
This phrase comes up a lot in discussions of consciousness and I've never understood it and never seen why it's supposed to encapsulate the idea.
It isn't "like" anything to be me. There isn't something else I can compare it to. All I know is that I exist and experience and that there is an aspect of that experience that is impossible to communicate, define or share.
1. ForHackernews · 1789739793 · focus · HN ↗
  Being you is (presumably) like something: it's nice being you, it's miserable being you, it's exhausting being you, it's invigorating being you... whatever it is like, I can't describe it but you experience it.
  You have a subjective internal experience. A thermostat does not. An LLM presumably does not. A dog or a bat [0] presumably does.
  [0] <a href="https://ia800100.us.archive.org/5/items/thomas-nagel-what-is-it-like-to-be-a-bat/Thomas%20Nagel%2C%20What%20Is%20It%20Like%20to%20Be%20a%20Bat.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://ia800100.us.archive.org/5/items/thomas-nagel-what-is...
  1. randallsquared · 1789909875 · focus · HN ↗
    I don't put a high likelihood on LLMs being conscious, but they certainly seem more likely to be conscious than a dog or a bat.
    ForHackernews · 1790195492 · focus · HN ↗
    Maybe you have some other definition of "conscious" in mind but dogs and bats certainly seem far more sentient to me than then the linear algebra box is. My dog wants food, and he doesn't forget he wants food if I tell him he already ate a whole bowl of food.
    Oops, my mistake and you're right to call me out for that. I'll make a note in my MEMORIES.md highlighting that one whole bowl of kibble has been consumed. That requirement is satisfied.

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