Rejection of the idea that machines can be conscious leads is more closely to solipsism and epiphenomenalism:
Solipsism: because if we deny consciousness to a robot that can do everything we can do, we have less reason for claiming that other people (with equivalent behaviour) are conscious as well.
Epiphenomenalism: because if we deny consciousness to a robot that can do everything we can do, we deny that a mind causes such behaviours, and then we must admit that human behaviour might not have mental causes as well.
Dennis Thompson (1965). |