Philosophy of mind Flashcards
Limits of philosophy of the mind
You can have philosophical ideas as much as you like, but you have to respect the science
So: philosophy of mind has to respect the laws of physics, laws of computing, insights of neuroscience, etc.
AI is a lens into the mind
Standard form of the debate:
Think of an interesting metal capacity C(C=intelligence, creativity, emotion, consciousness, free will, ….)
2. Ask “can a computer have C”
3. Outcomes:
It forces us to better define C
It will give us a new hypothesis about how the human mind works
It will give us a new hypothesis about what computers can/cannot do
Intelligence
Example the turing test
-Natural human intelligence vs artificial intelligence
-E.g Watson the robot makes mistakes that a human would never make
The Chinese room argument
The Chinese Room Argument is a thought experiment devised by philosopher John Searle in 1980. It is intended to challenge the idea that a computer program could achieve true understanding or consciousness simply by processing symbols according to rules.
Symbol-grounding
how can a computer know anything about the real world
-Symbols can only refer to other symbols
-How can a computer ever know what is red or heavy or sad or etc
-Therefore, stimulated intelligence does not equal real intelligence.
LLMs
LLMs might be your broca’s area, but they are not your prefrontal cortex.
Intentional stance
Why do we even talk in
intentional terms
about other people?
* What proof do I have
for the “consciousness” of other people?
For their motivation?
For their emotions?
Intentional stance part 2
- If its useful to talk about consciousness,
motivation, feeling, etc,
then we are allowed to do so
(or even: should do so),
equally for people and machines. - People have a strong tendency to take the
intensional stance:
– animals (even very primitive ones)
– machines (even if we know how they work) - And therefore we will call our computers
“intelligent” & “conscious”
Self-consciousness
- (Maybe) self-consciousness is just the story we tell
– about ourselves
– to ourselves
in our attempt to maintain coherence
between the world and ourselves
Technically:
we’re applying the intentional stance to ourselves! - Julian Jaynes,
“The original of consciousness in
the breakdown of the bicameral mind
Free will
- It violates Physics
because the physical world
is deterministic, and leaves
no room for “free” will - It violates
Neuroscience
Hard determinism
Physical determinism is true and free will is impossible
Compatibilism
Physical determinism is true and free will is possible
Hard incompatibilism
Physical determinism is false and free will is possible
Libertarianism
Physical determinism is false and fee will is possible
