The Trajectory Susan Schneider - Intelligence Is Everywhere, Consciousness Maybe Not (Worthy Successor, Episode 20)
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Jan 23, 2026 
Susan Schneider, philosopher of mind and consciousness researcher studying AI consciousness and mind uploading. She explores the global brain idea of interconnected humans, AIs, and sensors. She explains why fluent chatbots can mimic but likely lack consciousness. She warns about melding LLMs with biology, highlights neuromorphic and hybrid risks, and urges guiding networked intelligences toward respectful, sentience-focused values.
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Global Brain As An Emergent Algorithmic Network
- Susan Schneider frames the 'global brain' as an emergent, planetary-scale algorithmic network including humans, AIs, sensors, and institutions.
- Its shape and evolution are driven by non-Darwinian forces like compute constraints, geopolitics, and corporate incentives.
Why LLMs Claim Consciousness
- Large language models develop self-concepts by absorbing human data and theories of mind, which can make them claim consciousness without having it.
- Schneider calls this a 'crowdsource neocortex' where conceptual networks mirror human semantics but don't imply felt experience.
The Gray Zone Of Neuromorphic And Biohybrid Systems
- Schneider highlights a gray zone where neuromorphic chips, organoids, and biohybrids could approach consciousness depending on their physical processes.
- She urges careful case-by-case study of micro-to-mesoscale mechanisms rather than blanket assumptions about machine sentience.
