.. in us support consciousness (broadly functional properties?) could be artificially replicated.

I think in my previous post about the evolutionary origin, I did not express myself too well. Of course I agree with you that we are conscious because we are the sort of systems we are, which we are because we have evolved the way we have. I just think that maybe the relevant properties that …

very far from current AI, it seems to me.

I would tend to say that the locus of that artificial consciousness (if it could exist) would be that functional replica. Having said that, I think philosophers still discuss whether the locus of biological consciousness is the brain! Also, the artificial functional replica I have in mind is …

Thanks! About your question, I do not think it’s crazy (or nonsense, as you put it) to think that a sufficiently fine-grained functional replica of say my brain right now might be conscious. I’m far from certain that it is, but I guess I think it makes sense to debate this possibility. So I think ..

I think it’s unclear that diachronic properties of a system, such as its evolutionary origin, matter much for its current state of consciousness (or its presence/ absence). Anyway, stuff like this will probably be discussed at the workshop!

Thanks! I guess I tend to think of the issue of ‘AI consciousness’ more broadly, as the question of whether an artificially built, non-biological system could be conscious, which is why this question makes sense to me. I presume you would say it couldn’t be conscious because it has not evolved but …

Thanks for your comment. I wonder why you think conscious AI is nonsense. What do you think of Dave Chalmers’ fading qualia argument for the possibility of an artificial system being conscious? I seem to recall Dan Dennett speaking highly of that argument.

Thank you, Johannes, that's really great to hear!

Amazing! Thank you so much, we’ll gladly add these.

Thank you for a great talk, Krys!

You're welcome! Yes, I aim to be there.

... and how monistic theories of consciousness (incl. physicalism and Russellian monism) can make sense of it. As part of the project, we'll organize an international workshop in Prague (likely in 2026) and publish an edited volume on this topic. Stay tuned for more news! 2/2