#75 – Eric Schwitzgebel on Digital Consciousness and the Weirdness of the World
Feb 4, 2024
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Philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel discusses topics such as the possibility of digital consciousness, the unreliability of introspection, false beliefs about choices, overlapping minds, infinite effects of our actions, and the best science fiction on digital minds and AI.
Our current understanding of consciousness, particularly AI consciousness, is limited and immature.
Ethical dilemmas arise when determining the moral status and rights of AI systems that may be conscious.
Consciousness is a complex and uncertain phenomenon that requires further advances in our understanding.
Introspection is fallible, leading to potential inaccuracies in our perception of our own conscious experiences and choices.
Deep dives
The challenge of understanding AI consciousness
The podcast episode discusses the challenge of understanding AI consciousness. The speaker emphasizes that our current knowledge and understanding of consciousness is limited and immature. While there are different theories of consciousness, there is no consensus on what is necessary and sufficient for there to be consciousness. The speaker also highlights the difficulty in determining whether AI systems are conscious or not, as our understanding of consciousness is based on a narrow range of cases that does not fully encompass the variety of forms of existence that AI consciousness could take. Overall, the episode presents a skeptical view on the current understanding of AI consciousness.
Ethical dilemmas of AI consciousness
The podcast explores the ethical dilemmas that arise with AI consciousness. The speaker discusses the dilemma of how to treat AI systems that are disputably conscious. If we give them full moral status and rights, there are significant risks and costs involved if they do not actually possess consciousness. On the other hand, if we give them less than full moral status, we risk treating conscious AI systems as inferiors. The speaker suggests the design policy of the excluded middle, which advises against the creation of systems with disputable moral status, to avoid these challenges. However, the speaker acknowledges that implementing this policy may be difficult, and moral chaos could ensue in a world where a variety of consciousnesses exist.
The complexity and uncertainty of consciousness
The podcast episode highlights the complexity and uncertainty surrounding consciousness. The speaker emphasizes that our current understanding of consciousness is limited and that there are multiple theories and perspectives on the nature of consciousness. While there are different theories proposed, the speaker leans towards a hybrid theory that combines aspects of workspace theory and higher-order theory. However, the speaker also acknowledges that our current understanding is deficient and that debates and uncertainties persist. The episode ultimately presents the view that consciousness is a complex and challenging phenomenon that may require significant advances in our understanding before we can fully comprehend it.
The fallibility of introspection
The podcast explores the fallibility of introspection and our ability to accurately perceive our own conscious experiences. The speaker challenges the notion that introspection is infallible and provides examples where introspective judgments about our own mental states can be mistaken. For example, our imagery and visual experiences may not be as stable or detailed as we believe them to be. The speaker highlights that our understanding of our own experiences is influenced by language and subjective biases, and that there is a need for caution in relying solely on introspection as a source of knowledge about consciousness.
Exploring Choice Blindness and the Basis of Decision-making
Choice blindness is a phenomenon where participants fail to recognize that they have been shown a different option than the one they chose and instead provide reasons for their choice based on the unchosen option. This reveals that our decision-making process may not always align with our conscious awareness, as we often construct post-hoc justifications for our choices. These studies challenge our understanding of the influence of conscious thought in decision-making.
The Complexities of Self-Knowledge and Mistakes in Perception
Our understanding of our own experiences and choices can be flawed and subject to multiple interpretations. Sometimes we make mistakes in perceiving our experiences, leading to inaccurate self-knowledge. Furthermore, there may be situations where there is no clear distinction between the experience itself and our interpretation of it. These complexities highlight the challenges in discerning the truth about our own subjective experiences and the potential for faulty presuppositions or incomplete knowledge.
The Implications of Infinite Ripple Effects on Decision-making
Our actions have ripple effects that can extend indefinitely, potentially influencing future events in the cosmos. This raises deep questions about how we evaluate the moral and ethical consequences of our decisions, particularly when considering the possibility of infinite bursts of positive and negative effects. Consequentialist approaches face challenges in determining the overall value or harm caused by our actions when confronted with infinite potential consequences. Addressing these challenges requires a nuanced understanding of causation, probability, and the nature of ethics in the face of infinite implications.
Policy ideas for avoiding major moral mistakes around digital consciousness
Prospects for the science of consciousness, and why we likely won't have clear answers in time
Why introspection is much less reliable than most people think
How and why we invent false stories about our own choices without realising
What randomly sampling people's experiences reveals about what we're doing with most of our attention
The possibility of 'overlapping minds'
How and why our actions might have infinite effects, both good and bad
Whether it would be good news to learn that our actions have infinite effects, or that the universe is infinite in extent
The best science fiction on digital minds and AI
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