Machines can be conscious
R.Yusuf Akbal
210112409
03.05.2013
Can machines be conscious?
Can machines be conscious? Well, the answer actually depends on the kind of machines you are talking about. Based on quite a few instances and research work done on this particular topic, I think that the machines can indeed be categorized as conscious beings and in the following paragraphs I will be providing a couple of examples in order to support my argument.
If we look at the definition of consciousness, which implies that ‘one has to be aware of all its surroundings and wellbeing’ then machines can certainly not be conscious; as they have all the operations and data already programmed in them by some external forces and are only aware of those situations which have been manually fitted in them. Will computers ever become conscious? Or will computers be well aware of all its systems’ information and working? In a way, they already are. The whole system of a computer is specifically designed so that certain kinds of information are available to the programmer/ user; for example opening and saving files, display of screen functions, all functions related to processors, disk, and other functioning are all set in the codes about which the computer is well aware of. This is because every information system, either computer or brain, has to work in real time.
If we look at the second definition of consciousness, i.e. ability to be aware, think, interpret, feel and do, then the machines can be conscious. However, many people do not support this argument claiming that machines cannot feel and have no emotions. If all activities of consciousness are related to a brain’s activity e.g. emotions, sense of judgment, feelings, and awareness of surroundings, then it can be said that the machines do not have some of these aspects of consciousness. If machines turnout to be any casual physical system or mechanism, then it can be said that the biological organisms are machines too which answers our question -
210112409
03.05.2013
Can machines be conscious?
Can machines be conscious? Well, the answer actually depends on the kind of machines you are talking about. Based on quite a few instances and research work done on this particular topic, I think that the machines can indeed be categorized as conscious beings and in the following paragraphs I will be providing a couple of examples in order to support my argument.
If we look at the definition of consciousness, which implies that ‘one has to be aware of all its surroundings and wellbeing’ then machines can certainly not be conscious; as they have all the operations and data already programmed in them by some external forces and are only aware of those situations which have been manually fitted in them. Will computers ever become conscious? Or will computers be well aware of all its systems’ information and working? In a way, they already are. The whole system of a computer is specifically designed so that certain kinds of information are available to the programmer/ user; for example opening and saving files, display of screen functions, all functions related to processors, disk, and other functioning are all set in the codes about which the computer is well aware of. This is because every information system, either computer or brain, has to work in real time.
If we look at the second definition of consciousness, i.e. ability to be aware, think, interpret, feel and do, then the machines can be conscious. However, many people do not support this argument claiming that machines cannot feel and have no emotions. If all activities of consciousness are related to a brain’s activity e.g. emotions, sense of judgment, feelings, and awareness of surroundings, then it can be said that the machines do not have some of these aspects of consciousness. If machines turnout to be any casual physical system or mechanism, then it can be said that the biological organisms are machines too which answers our question -
References: Baron-Cohen, S. (1995). Mind blindness: An Essay on Autism and Theory of Mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Marvin, M. (1991). Conscious machines: An Essay on Machinery of Consciousness. Shear, J. (Ed.) (1997) Explaining Consciousness: The Hard Problem. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1997. Harnad, S. (1994) Levels of Functional Equivalence in Reverse Bioengineering: The Darwinian Turing Test for Artificial Life, Artificial Life 1(3): 293–301. Harnad, S. (1991) Other Bodies, Other Minds: A Machine Incarnation of an Old Philosophical Problem, Minds and Machines 1: 43–54.