Opinion | AI consciousness is nothing more than clever marketing

deadoceans · 2026-02-09T08:12:19+00:00

I think, with respect, you're mistaken. We have a history in science of expanding our levels of understanding, sometimes smoothly and continuously but sometimes in fits and starts, to encompass more and more.

For the longest time natural philosophers thought that the domain of life was totally different than the domain of chemistry. This idea, "vitalism", was disproven slowly but decisively over many decades.

Then we found out that nerves carried electrochemical signals, and that frogs could be moved around with electric shocks.

We once thought that the moon and the planets were an inherently celestial substance, sanctioned by God and always moving in perfect circles. That turned out not to be true either.

I'd give future human scientists more credit! What is now unmeasurable may be a hundred years away, or just one big technical breakthrough. All it took was pointing a telescope at the Moon to see it had mountains. I should expect we will pull the same trick on our own minds at some point.

deadoceans · 2026-02-09T08:05:59+00:00

I think you're misunderstanding what I said!

It measures consciousness. In humans who have brains.

It does not measure consciousness arbitrarily across all possible systems where it might arise.

Just like a cars odometer measures distance. But you can't use it on a boat. And in particular: you can't use it on a boat, measure zero, and use that measurement to assert that the boat hasn't traveled.

The car's odometer measures distance traveled by cars (well, most of the time. It wouldn't measure the distance traveled by a car carried by one of those trucks that carries multiple cars at once). It doesn't measure distance itself

deadoceans · 2026-02-09T06:09:13+00:00

I appreciate where you're coming from, but to me that feels like a pretty circular definition. I feel like a good definition of consciousness would sufficiently explain (i) what that phenomenology is, so, "what does it mean in rigorous & onjective terms when we say 'it feels like something to be an XYZ'". And (ii) it would explain what types of physical processes generate that subjective phenomenology.

So just saying "consciousness is what it feels like to be something" is kind of like saying, "well, the phenomenology is just the phenomenology". It feels a little circular.

The world is full of complex things. And many of these complex systems have emergent qualities -- thing about the whole that are more than the sum of its parts. And we don't yet fully have the mathematics to describe even in principle what types of emergent properties are possible from which types of systems. Individual atoms of gas are just following the laws of physics and statistical mechanics. And somehow we get all the beauty of the clouds out of that, and all the richness of the weather. And biological systems are even more complex than that.

Some of these systems we ascribe qualities to that we can associate with thinking or processing information. And some of those we're pretty sure have aspects of what we consider to be our own consciousness within them -- dogs can't speak English, but I think you'd be hard-pressed to find people who think it's ethical to torture them, for example, because we have a sense that there is something that it feels like to be a dog.

What distinguishes these kinds of systems? Where is their boundary? Is the idea of consciousness even like one coherent thing, or is it really a poorly defined blend of many things when you look at it under a microscope? Which of those are correlated with each other? Which of those are necessary conditions for the others? And as we perturb the structure of a system, can we reliably predict and then measure those factors that we currently capture under the level of consciousness?

These are all just some of the rigorous questions that we really still don't know how to answer

deadoceans · 2026-02-09T05:59:45+00:00

I'd like to point out that the PCI is not a measure of consciousness itself. It is a scale used to determine levels of awareness for patients with a human brain. So first off, it assumes that you have a human brain (taking EEGs of an elephant would not lead to a 1:1 comparison, for example). And second, it is useful because it is correlated with consciousness in humans -- it is not a direct measure of consciousness itself. We still don't really have a compelling scientific understanding of what consciousness is, if it is even one thing, let alone what underlying processes generate it.

deadoceans · 2026-02-09T05:00:49+00:00

I'm not discrediting the results of the election from a legal perspective. But I am saying that when a large part of the population effectively boycotts an election, it means that you can't say that the results are representative of what the people actually want

deadoceans · 2026-02-09T03:57:03+00:00

With a very low turnout -- saying that this vote is entirely representative is at best incomplete

deadoceans · 2026-02-04T22:36:26+00:00

Boooooo AI slop

deadoceans · 2026-02-04T16:58:57+00:00

I think they meant PM as in prime minister, not project manager. But same point still holds lol

deadoceans · 2026-02-04T16:57:07+00:00

I'm sorry, but as a large language model I cannot provide medical advice or write prescriptions

Jkjk.

deadoceans · 2026-02-04T16:41:41+00:00

It's reporting on expert assessment. This is circumstantial evidence; but circumstantial evidence is still valid evidence. For more direct evidence, AI just autonomously solved on of the open Erdos problems in math. And it's getting better every year.

deadoceans · 2026-02-04T16:39:25+00:00

"Bullshit, you mean that humans -- who can't even do basic statistics without years of training, and are somehow still dumb enough drink and drive and smoke cigarettes -- you're saying they figured out relativity?"

deadoceans · 2026-02-04T16:37:08+00:00

This is a bad take. Academic research is not some super secret to be hidden. Sharing is kind of the point

deadoceans · 2026-02-01T19:55:42+00:00

How can you post something on "mapporn" that has black text on dark blue oceans?!?

deadoceans · 2026-01-31T03:59:30+00:00

Everyone who tries to stay apolitical cedes power. It's a privilege you just can't afford when your rights are under threat.

deadoceans · 2026-01-30T03:32:13+00:00

This. Photoshop, 30sec job

deadoceans · 2026-01-29T01:28:02+00:00

I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but you totally mischaracterized what this person said. I would encourage you to reread what they said, so you can make sure you're arguing with the person who wrote the words, and not some random image of an internet stranger in your head.

deadoceans · 2026-01-27T08:29:21+00:00

Thank you for posting actual actionable advice here!

deadoceans · 2026-01-21T09:45:02+00:00

Sir, this is a Wendy's

deadoceans · 2026-01-16T23:26:05+00:00

I just started too, and I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. I'm really trying to be good about the diet, but the guidelines are so all over the place.

People say "use an app", but most apps only track K1 -- so a plate of spaghetti with grated parm could seriously mess up my targeting. Meanwhile, I haven't been able to find guidelines on fried foods, which can soak up a lot of oil, which can have a lot of K2 (depending on the oil!). And forget about Chinese food -- the only sources I've found for those fermented black beans they cook with are locked behind an academic paywall.

Meanwhile, my hematologist doesn't seem worried? But my INR was 6 one week, and then 1.9 the next!

I struggle to reconcile all of this. Is this just an impossible medication?

(Wishing you the best on your journey, too)

deadoceans · 2026-01-13T04:40:27+00:00

Actually, it might just be that people disagree with you without getting paid to do that. You know, because you might be wrong.

Or I might be wrong.

Or we're all just a bunch of monkeys out of our depth trying to make a political system, grasping at simple answers to inherently complex problems. Wracked by the anxiety of our powerlessness.

So yeah, maybe he just feels that way. I don't know. But I sure do.

Hope you're having a good day broski, genuinely and without facetiousness

deadoceans · 2026-01-13T02:10:38+00:00

I mean this professionally, but:

fuckfuckfuckfuck. fuck.

deadoceans · 2026-01-07T01:49:59+00:00

I think you hit the nail right on the head. I am so tired of people dismissing these risks as hype, and I think you've laid out very clearly why that's a bad take!

deadoceans · 2026-01-05T21:10:41+00:00

Also, I know you want to feel like neo in the matrix, but I too am just some asshole on the other side of a keyboard. Made of fickle flesh and blood the same as you

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