[ExI] Searle and AI

John Clark jonkc at bellsouth.net
Sun Dec 27 21:45:34 UTC 2009


Searle:

> "Maybe someday we will be able to create conscious artifacts, in which case subjective states of consciousness will be ‘physical’ features of those artifacts"

I believe Mr. Searle said that to try to convince us and perhaps even himself that he's not talking about a soul, but I'm not buying it. If Mr. Future Searle claims to have invented a conscious machine I could use his same lame arguments against him: 

If I look at smaller and smaller parts of your wonderful machine eventually I will come to a part that is not so wonderful, and if that part is not wonderful then the entire machine can't be wonderful. Consciousness is wonderful so I'm sorry to tell you Mr. Future Searle that your machine is not conscious, it's just intelligent.  If he protests and says He has a theory of consciousness and according to his theory the machine is conscious I could say you have no way to test the theory to see if it is correct.

More Searle:
> 
> "Consciousness is thus an ordinary feature of certain biological systems, in the same way that photosynthesis, digestion, and lactation are ordinary features of biological systems"

This illustrates the embarrassing ignorance Searle has for an idea that forms the bedrock of all the biological sciences. Photosynthesis, digestion, and lactation are all processes that help an organism's genes get into the next generation. Intelligence does the same thing, BUT CONSCIOUSNESS DOES NOT. Only results matter to Evolution, how they were generated is of no importance. If consciousness were not an inevitable consequence of intelligence it would not exist. If Searle were educated and intellectually honest he would say I don't understand how intelligence produces consciousness but there is no doubt that it does.

 John K Clark  





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