Luciano da Fontoura Costa (1995) Is There More to Personhood Than Computing Theory . Psycoloquy: 6(13) Robot Consciousness (8)
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Psycoloquy 6(13): Is There More to Personhood Than Computing Theory

IS THERE MORE TO PERSONHOOD THAN COMPUTING THEORY
AND LOGICO-MATHEMATICS?
Book Review of Bringsjord on Robot-Consciousness

Luciano da Fontoura Costa
Cybernetic Vision Research Group
IFSC - University of Sao Paulo
Caixa Postal 369, Sao Carlos, SP,
13560 Brazil

Luciano@ifqsc.sc.usp.br

Abstract

The principal thesis in Bringsjord's book, What Robots Can and Can't Be (1992), consists in the assertion that, although destined to excel at Turing tests, robots will never become people. However, the book provides a comprehensive review of many computer theoretical and logico-mathematical aspects related to automata and control, while little is discussed about what is, to the author of the present review, the most important difference between persons and machines: the incorporation of consciousness in its plenitude, including its sensation-related aspects. Remarks on some consciousness-related aspects that have been overlooked as well as how they may contribute to constructing a more realistic picture of the mechanical aspects of consciousness are also included.

Keywords

behaviorism, Chinese Room Argument, cognition, consciousness, finite automata, free will, functionalism, introspection, mind, story generation, Turing machines, Turing Test.

References