4min chapter

In Our Time: Science cover image

Artificial Intelligence

In Our Time: Science

CHAPTER

Is the Computer Simulation of Consciousness the Real Thing?

Soyou: A computer simulation of consciousness isn't thereby conscious, but it's a very useful device for studying consciousness. Soyou can use the computer to study how the brain produces consciousness - just as you could with digestion. He believes part of that track can be through virtual mechanisms which do become conscious. The best way to tell whether a system is conscious or not is to look at its 'causal power', he says.

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