Executive summary: Chalmers argues for the possibility of artificially conscious systems, but his fading qualia thought experiment rests on unjustified assumptions about the functional equivalence of biological neurons and silicon chips.
Key points:
Chalmers claims that systems with identical functional organization will have identical consciousness (organizational invariance), arguing against the possibility of absent qualia in functionally equivalent systems.
Chalmers’ fading qualia argument assumes the very neuronal-silicon equivalence it aims to demonstrate, rendering it circular.
Biological neurons involve unique metabolic processes tied to consciousness, meaning silicon chips are not functionally equivalent substrates.
Therefore, Chalmers’ organizational invariance principle and argument against absent qualia fail.
This lowers confidence in the possibility of artificially conscious systems, given current silicon-based AI architectures.
The issue has ethical implications, potentially reducing expected value estimates of digitally conscious lives.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, andcontact us if you have feedback.
Executive summary: Chalmers argues for the possibility of artificially conscious systems, but his fading qualia thought experiment rests on unjustified assumptions about the functional equivalence of biological neurons and silicon chips.
Key points:
Chalmers claims that systems with identical functional organization will have identical consciousness (organizational invariance), arguing against the possibility of absent qualia in functionally equivalent systems.
Chalmers’ fading qualia argument assumes the very neuronal-silicon equivalence it aims to demonstrate, rendering it circular.
Biological neurons involve unique metabolic processes tied to consciousness, meaning silicon chips are not functionally equivalent substrates.
Therefore, Chalmers’ organizational invariance principle and argument against absent qualia fail.
This lowers confidence in the possibility of artificially conscious systems, given current silicon-based AI architectures.
The issue has ethical implications, potentially reducing expected value estimates of digitally conscious lives.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.