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On Incomputable Language: An Essay on AI by Elizabeth Sandifer (www.eruditorumpress.com)
submitted 11 months ago by to c/sneerclub@awful.systems
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much more sneerclub than techtakes

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[–] 1 point 11 months ago (4 children)

I think the point being made is perfectly reasonable. It's entirely possible to think that there's probably nothing stopping things more like a computer than like a brain having actual intelligence/consciousness, even if there's no particular pointer from where we are to that state. We are an existence proof that matter can do this, and there's little reason to think it's the only way it can.

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  • [–] [S] 11 points 11 months ago*

    the existence of a brain doesn't show you can simulate it in a computer. the universe is not necessarily feasible to simulate down to the atoms, as the essay points out. did you read the essay?

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  • [–] 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

    No, it's not reasonable. This is what you're saying:

    1. Matter can have consciousness (see: humans).
    2. Computers are made of matter.
    • Therefore, it's conceivable that a computer can have consciousness.

    This is logically valid but meaningless. There's nothing to be done with this. There's no reason to be had here.

    Then we have the banal take of "if we had a magic box with infinite capabilities, it could do X!", where, in this case, X happens to be "have consciousness". Ok! Great. You have fun playing in the sandpit, thinking about your magic box. I'm gonna smoke cigarettes and play slot machines for an hour.

    It's only when we start bringing the discussion down to simulations on a Turing machine that this stuff gets interesting. But that's not what y'all are trying to talk about, because you haven't read the goddamn essay.

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