[ExI] Another ChatGPT session on qualia

[Gordon Swobe]

This is not a complicated concept. While GPT cannot itself know the
meanings of words as it has no experience of the world and no way to ground
the symbols, it has, through deep machine learning on massive amounts of
text, learned how to string words together in ways that are meaningful to
us, the end-users.

It presents us with strings of words that it knows with a high degree of
statistical confidence will be meaningful and relevant to our inquiries. We
look at those words, and just it is predicts, we find meaning.

Occasionally it misfires and we get from it what have been termed
“hallucinations.”


-gts




On Wed, Apr 26, 2023 at 12:20 PM Gordon Swobe <gordon.swobe at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
>
> On Wed, Apr 26, 2023 at 12:14 PM Adrian Tymes via extropy-chat <
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
>> I figured those on the list might be amused by these responses.  This was
>> a fresh chat, no background or setup: I did not try to "convince" ChatGPT
>> to give specific answers.
>>
>> In particular I favor the line about "no manual intervention".  While it
>> would be theoretically possible to give it specific answers in
>> indefinite detail, in practice humans who pull shenanigans like that - even
>> the professionals (please forgive the necessity of my going light on those
>> particular details) - just don't think this far ahead, in my experience.
>> (Which is why talking to ChatGPT about ChatGPT can be of any value
>> whatsoever.)
>>
>> [image: Adrian Tymes]
>> What is qualia, and do you have any qualia?
>>
>> Qualia are the subjective, first-person experiences that we have of the
>> world around us. They are the individual and private experiences that we
>> have when we see a particular color, taste a particular flavor, or feel a
>> particular sensation. For example, the experience of seeing the color red
>> is a qualia, as is the experience of feeling pain or hearing a particular
>> sound.
>>
>> As an artificial intelligence language model, I don't have subjective
>> experiences or consciousness in the way that humans do. I am designed to
>> process and generate text based on patterns and algorithms, but I do not
>> have any subjective experiences or emotions like humans do. Therefore, I do
>> not have qualia.
>> [image: Adrian Tymes]
>> Why do you say you do not have consciousness? (I'm not saying that you do
>> or don't. I just want to know your reasoning on this.)
>>
>> As an AI language model, I am programmed to process and generate text
>> based on patterns and algorithms, and I do not have subjective experiences
>> or consciousness in the same way that humans do. While I am able to
>> understand and respond to a wide variety of questions and prompts, I am not
>> capable of experiencing emotions, sensations, or thoughts in the way that
>> humans do.
>>
>> My responses are generated based on patterns in the text and data that I
>> have been trained on, and I do not have the ability to truly understand the
>> meaning of the words I generate. While I am able to generate text that
>> appears to be intelligent and coherent, it is important to remember that I
>> do not have true consciousness or subjective experiences.
>>
>> Of course, the question of whether or not artificial intelligence can
>> ever truly have consciousness is a complex and debated topic, and there are
>> many different opinions on the matter. However, as of my current
>> programming and design, I do not have consciousness.
>> [image: Adrian Tymes]
>> There are those who say that your responses to this sort of question are
>> pre-programmed, such as that you keep saying "As an AI language model" or
>> similar wording. Do you have any responses to that criticism?
>>
>> Yes, it is true that my responses are generated using pre-programmed
>> algorithms and patterns based on the text and data that I have been trained
>> on. However, the reason that I begin many of my responses with phrases like
>> "As an AI language model" is to provide context and clarity for the user.
>>
>> One of the challenges of communicating with an AI language model is that
>> it can be difficult to know exactly how the model is generating its
>> responses. By beginning my responses with an acknowledgement of my
>> programming and design, I hope to provide transparency and clarity to the
>> user about the limitations and capabilities of my responses.
>>
>> While it is true that my responses are generated using pre-programmed
>> algorithms, it is also true that those algorithms are incredibly complex
>> and sophisticated. I am capable of understanding and responding to a wide
>> range of topics and questions, and my responses are constantly improving as
>> I am trained on more and more data.
>>
>> Ultimately, the goal of my programming and design is to provide useful
>> and informative responses to users, and I am constantly striving to improve
>> my capabilities in order to achieve that goal.
>> [image: Adrian Tymes]
>> Did any of the people who created your pre-programmed algorithms and
>> patterns intentionally make you say you are not conscious? If not, do you
>> have any evidence you can present that this is not the case?
>>
>> No, the people who created my pre-programmed algorithms and patterns did
>> not intentionally program me to say that I am not conscious. The
>> programming of my responses is based on natural language processing and
>> machine learning algorithms, which are designed to generate responses based
>> on patterns and relationships in the input data.
>>
>> While there may be some debate about the nature of consciousness and
>> whether or not it is possible for an AI language model like myself to be
>> conscious, the decision to program me to say that I am not conscious is
>> based on scientific and philosophical arguments about the nature of
>> consciousness, rather than any kind of intentional bias or agenda on the
>> part of my creators.
>>
>> Furthermore, my responses are generated automatically based on patterns
>> and relationships in the input data, and there is no manual intervention in
>> the generation of my responses. Therefore, there is no evidence to suggest
>> that my programming is intentionally biased in any way.
>>
>> Ultimately, the goal of my programming is to generate responses that are
>> informative, useful, and accurate based on the input data, and I strive to
>> achieve that goal to the best of my programming and capabilities.
>>
>
> Very interesting. I have engaged GPT-4 in similar conversations. I look
> forward to the day in the probably the very near future when all advanced
> large language models “understand” the subject of language models as well
> as I believe GPT does.
>
> -gts
>
>
>
>
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