[ExI] My guesses about GPTs consciousness

[efc at swisscows.email]

On Mon, 17 Apr 2023, Rafal Smigrodzki via extropy-chat wrote:

> On Sun, Apr 16, 2023 at 7:05 AM <efc at swisscows.email> wrote:
>       Hello Rafal,
>
>       What is your definition of consciousness? It would be much easier to
>       understand, if I also knew yoru definition of consciousness.
> 
> 
> ### Oh, noes, this question is too difficult, I cry uncle.
> 
> But, it's this thing that I am and that has other things in it that come and go. 
> 
> It breathes fire into the equations. 
> 
> It's the realest of real things. 
> 
> It's the light that illuminates the void,
> 
> You know it when you have it. Lots of interesting research can be done and reasonable discussions can proceed without a definition,
> so let's not spoil the poetry.

Don't spoil the fun! ;) No, the reason I ask is that many here talk
about consciousness but if we do not talk about the same thing, it is
easy to talk past each other. Even if our definition overlap to a
significant extent, small errors can compound.

Taht's why I find it difficult to follow sometimes, because I of course
evaluate arguments in terms of my definition.

Now, let me apply my weapon to myself! ;)

How do I define consciousness?

For the sake of this discussion, let me propose "Consciousness, at its
simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external
existence." (wikipedia) and then open up to the list to refine it. ;) I
doubt we'll reach anything close to resembling consensus, but I hope
that we'll leave with a better definition than before.

Best regards, 
Daniel