Detecting consciousness – The daily blog of behavioral and cognitive economics

Will AI ever become conscious? It depends on how you think about biology

A film adaptation of science fiction author Terry Bisson’s 1991 short story, They’re Made out of Meat, opens with two aliens in dismay. Sitting in a roadside diner booth disguised as humans, cigarettes hanging limp from their mouths, they’re grappling with an observation about the creatures who surround them: Humans, it seems, are made entirely of meat. They’re dumbstruck by the idea that meat alone, with no help from machines, can generate a thinking mind. “Thinking meat! You’re asking me to believe in thinking meat!” one alien scoffs. “Yes,” the other responds, “Thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat! Dreaming meat! The meat is the whole deal! Are you getting the picture?” ….[READ]