Thirty years ago Roger Penrose published a book The Emperor's New Mind arguing that AI could not have human like thoughts with the available level of technology. Technology has advanced, so the question arises again.
Conscious thought is discussed a lot without a clear definitions of it. Maybe unconsciousness could be defined as an aid to describing conscious thought. Topics like awareness and cognition seem to fit in the discussion, but not as a substitute for a definition.
We all have some understanding about conscious thought, but maybe not the same understanding. Much precision is required when dealing with computers and AI.
Human brain has left and right lobes where conscious thought may occur, but apparently not in both lobes at the same time. With practice we learn to switch from one to the other quickly, but with a bit of discomfort during the switching.
Otherwise we have a subconscious mind in another part of the brain, said to be located toward the back. It does a lot of things for us while we are awake and asleep.
Furthermore the total brain functions all the time, not just the part we are aware of at any given moment. The left brain is working on something while our conscious thoughts are in the right brain, and the reverse.
For research at the graduate level all propositions and opinions must be expressed in some sort of statistical analysis. Any number of graduate students have each written a thesis or dissertation on a related topic without leaving a lasting impression on the larger research community.
To get a conclusion about AI, a very precise definition of conscious thought must be given. Then the answer is a percentage chance of a yes or no answer being correct. AI has advanced to the point it is appropriate to develop new ways of thinking about it.
What Is Conscious Thought And Can Artificial Intelligence Have It?
Dear Jerry,
As I see it, conscious thought is a thought we are aware of. For example, righly now I am quite aware and conscious that I am writing this post. This would not be the case if I were sleeping.
I do not think that AI can have conscious thoughts. AI machines such as robots perform without being aware of what they are doing. In other words, they only do what they are programmed to do. AI machines have no consciousness, nor do they have an unconscious or subconscious. They can follow rules without knowing them just because they do what they were programmed to do by human intelligent designers. My computer is an intelligent machine but it would be hazardous to credit it with consciousness.
Kind regards
Orlando
Orlando M Lourenço your Emeritus standing gives some freedom to think and express original thoughts.
It is difficult for me to conceive of AI in a computer having choices of left brain and right brain values or how to decide when one is preferred over the other. Computers at best are stuck in the logic mode of processing.
Encyclopedias contain a few pages about consciousness, including several definitions, including the one you have given. After reading the pages the encyclopedia leaves an impression of vague incompleteness, which causes me to ask the question.
From childhood I remember stages of development for awareness in myself and others. Everyone seems to reach some sort of adult awareness, but evidently not the same character of awareness from one person to another.
In computers and AI it seems likely your are correct at least in the beginning where the computer must start with infant awareness or maybe none at all.
It is a happy thought that humans could have an ability that computers cannot duplicate. Originality in thought and research is something that humans have demonstrated and AI has not.
The AI community is highly aggressive now in promoting their specialty. It seems to me that the proof is in the testing, and computers still have a long way to go for best performance.
Dear Jerry,
You are surely right while saying that "it is difficult for you to conceive of AI in a computer having choices of left brain and right brain values or how to decide when one is preferred over the other. Computers at best are stuck in the logic mode of processing". I would go a bit futher and say "impossible" instead of difficult.
As I see it, computers don't make decisions qua computers. They only "decide" and do what they were programmed to do, "choose", or "decide". At their best, they are, as it were, "passive and obedient deciders", and hence no deciders at all.
More to the point, AI machines such as robots and computers have no semantics, nor do they have emotions and feelings. Semantics and emotions, however, can be observed in infants and even newborns. For example, infants look for a while at a door through which their mother vanished or disappeared as if they were expecting her to reappear. This, I think, can be seen as an elementary form of consciousness and is a token of sensitivity.
I know that the AI community is highly aggressive now in promoting their specialty. Even if intelligent human designers were able to design, for example, robots capable of displaying tears, these tears would be, say, fake or artificial.
Kinds regards.
Orlando
Yes. It won't actually feel, but that is not important for effective thought.
No, given the question as stated, unless extraordinary steps are taken beyond the AI. Al can have simulated consciousness, though, which can produce all the same behaviors and work fine for worker bees.
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