[ExI] LLM's cannot be conscious

[Jason Resch]

On Wed, Mar 22, 2023, 11:34 PM Gordon Swobe <gordon.swobe at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> On Wed, Mar 22, 2023 at 8:09 PM Jason Resch <jasonresch at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I see the word "Pi" defined by a string of 20 symbols which if I interpret
>> them to be digits in base 10 I confirm to be the ratio of a circle's
>> circumference to its diameter. This not only tells me about the number
>> system used in the dictionary but also what each digit means.
>>
>
> How do you know the meaning of “string” and “digit” and “symbol” and “base
> 10” and how can you confirm it to be a “ratio” of a “circle” to a
> “circumference” given that you have no knowledge of the meanings of these
> words?
>

How does any human come to understand the world given only neural impulses?
We do it purely from finding and correlating patterns present in those
neural impulses. Similarly, patterns and correlations exist in a corpus of
text such as a dictionary or Wikipedia.

And how do you know the meanings of all the other words in your definition
> of “Pi”?
>

You don't, and don't need to. The pattern  inherent in the digits of Pi is
enough to tell you that it is Pi. It is self-descriptive to anyone who
knows what Pi is, and it reveals itself even if you don't recognize the
symbols used for the digits, by virtue of the pattern inherent in the
digits.

Here's a test: give me the first 20 digits of one of two numbers, either Pi
or Euler's number. Change the digits for letters of your choosing, e.g. 1 =
'J', 2 = 'R', 3 = 'P', etc. or you could even use emojis instead of
letters. Just don't tell me which symbols you chose to stand for which
digits. Provide me 20 digits of either number, Pi or Euler's number. Give
them to me in either their binary form or their base-10 form. I'll be able
to readily determine whether you gave me Pi or E, even though you haven't
told me what the symbols mean or which number you gave me or which base the
number is in. Moreover I will be able to determine which digit each symbol
means.


> For that matter, how do you know the meaning of “definition”?
>
> You are presuming knowledge of meanings (referents) that you do not have.
> I think you forget that you are a mindless software application programmed
> to identify and extrapolate patterns in symbols, which is all that ChatGPT
> is.
>

My original claim was that a sufficiently intelligent alien race, happening
upon our dictionary would be able to figure out all the word meanings.

However I would say it is still possible for an AI to build a model of the
world from the patterns present in the text alone. I believe this because
we humans have done it which proves it is possible given only patterns (in
our case a pattern of neural firings). I see no reason why this capacity
should not generalize to other patterns of information.

Jason
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