[ExI] AI and Consciousness

[Ben Zaiboc]

On 27/11/2025 01:53, BillK wrote:
> I asked Gemini - Can you explain what you mean when you say - I do not 
> feel "emotions" in the biological sense?
> In effect, the lengthy reply is: "Because I'm just a silly little 
> computer program."  :)
> BillK

This all seems to be just reflecting 'carbon chauvinism', assuming that 
biological mechanisms are the only thing that can produce the phenomena 
being asked about. It's a bit like saying that aeroplanes don't really 
fly because they don't flap their wings, and ignoring the fact that they 
still go from A to B without touching the ground in between. By that 
definition, hot air balloons, rockets and drones don't really fly either.

An AI saying "I do not feel 'emotions' in the biological sense" is 
equivalent to saying that aeroplanes can't fly in the bird sense. True, 
but unimportant. It's putting the familiar mechanism in the spotlight, 
and hoping that nobody notices the actual phenomenon lurking in the 
shadows (and the fact that it's based on a different mechanism).

I'm not claiming that (current) AIs actually are conscious or feel 
emotions, I'm just saying that all the discussions about it so far fail 
to show that they don't.

 > I asked Gemini to try the Self-Referential Prompt and Gemini did say 
that it felt different, but it might be that "I am 'playing the role' of 
a conscious AI because the prompt asked for it". Interesting......

Yes, that is interesting. It makes me think of the advice "fake it till 
you make it" (otherwise known as 'rehearsal').

-- 
Ben

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