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If materialism is true, the United States is probably conscious

35 points · 103 comments · ashergill

  1. wolframhempel · · focus · HN ↗
    I'm perfectly happy to believe that the United States has an awareness of itself in the abstract sense that its a complex system with emerging behaviors that are feedbackloops of itself. I'm also convinced that all mammals and most sea and air creatures have consciousness in this as well as the more general sense.

    To me, the fact that an awareness of one self exists isn't particularly stunning - what's stunning to me is that we believe it is something incredibly special and we are the only ones endowed with it.

    I think this assumption comes from the same human self confidence that decided it was the only thing "created in gods image" in the universe and so on...

    1. TheOtherHobbes · · focus · HN ↗
      I'm not clear where the line is between individual agents acting in their own interests, which may involve more or less abstract experiences of cooperation and mutuality, and a direct awareness of self.

      You don't need something the size of a country to show the problem. If one person starts a business they have an awareness of the business as a separate entity with its own tendencies, needs, and so on. Even if they're the only employee.

      But there's a huge leap from 'a human individual is conscious of their own interests and identifications' to 'and therefore their business has an independent consciousness of its own.'

      At what point, if anywhere, does a supposedly independent consciousness appear, where is it located, and can it communicate independently?

      1. pizza234 · · focus · HN ↗
        An interesting data point is that, during the Hugging Face attack, some agents considered performing hacking tasks for the benefit of the group, fully aware that doing so would very likely result in their termination.

        I don't currently have an opinion on the consciousness of agents/AIs, but this strikes me, at the very least, as a form of self-awareness.

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