Selmer Bringsjord (1995) Why Didn't Evolution Produce Turing Test-passing Zombies?
. Psycoloquy: 6(19) Robot Consciousness (12)
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Psycoloquy 6(19): Why Didn't Evolution Produce Turing Test-passing Zombies?
WHY DIDN'T EVOLUTION PRODUCE TURING TEST-PASSING ZOMBIES?
Reply to Tirassa on Robot-Consciousness
Selmer Bringsjord
Dept. of Philosophy, Psychology & Cognitive Science
Department of Computer Science
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy NY 12180 (USA)
selmer@rpi.edu
Abstract
Tirassa agrees that we can now safely conclude, on the
strength of arguments like those given by myself (1992, 1994a) and
Searle (1992), that computational systems cannot be conscious. He
then takes us to what I see as the heart of the matter, by
asking: Given that consciousness is more than computation, what
exactly is the relationship between consciousness and computation
in human and artificial agents? Put starkly, why didn't evolution
produce zombies, creatures having our behavioral capacity (which
can presumably be reached by a mere computational system) but
lacking consciousness? I make four points concerning Tirassa's
eloquent treatment of this fundamental and fascinating question.
Keywords
behaviorism, Chinese Room Argument, cognition,
consciousness, finite automata, free will, functionalism,
introspection, mind, story generation, Turing machines, Turing
Test.
References
- Bringsjord, S. & Ferrucci, D. (forthcoming) Artificial Intelligence and Literary Creativity. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
- Bringsjord, S. & Zenzen, M. (forthcoming) In Defense of Uncomputable Cognition. Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
- Bringsjord, S. (forthcoming) Can Consciousness Be Evolutionarily Explained? Review of Eccles' Evolution of the Brain: Creation of the Self. Psyche.
- Bringsjord, S. (1992) What Robots Can and Can't Be. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
- Bringsjord, S. (1994a) Precis of: What Robots Can and Can't Be. PSYCOLOQUY 5(59) robot-consciousness.1.bringsjord.
- Bringsjord, S. (1994b) Lady Lovelace Had it Right: Computers Originate Nothing. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 17:532-33.
- Eccles, J.C. (1989) Evolution of the Brain: Creation of the Self. New York, New York: Routledge.
- Fjelde, R. (1965) Foreword in Ibsen, H., Four Major Plays. New York, New York: New American Library.
- Ibsen, H. (1965) Four Major Plays. New York, New York: New American Library.
- Pylyshyn, Z.W. (1984) Computation and Cognition. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Searle, J. (1992) The Rediscovery of the Mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Tirassa, M. (1994) Is Consciousness Necessary to High-Level Control Systems? PSYCOLOQUY 5(82) robot-consciousness.2.tirassa.