The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

On David Chalmers' "Could a Large Language Model Be Conscious?" (2023) and Hubert Dreyfus' What Computers Can't Do: The Limits of Artificial Intelligence (1972), ch. 7-9.

How are intelligence and consciousness related, and even if an AI should be considered authentically intelligent, could any AI ever be considered conscious? Chalmers considers various arguments why current LLMs should be considered conscious now (he considers these unconvincing) and why they will never be (he also finds these unconvincing).

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Mark, Mary, and Anthony continue to chat about Ch. 1 of The Therapy of Desire by Martha Nussbaum (aka Noose Bomb).

We talk and/or act out mush-mouth characters, "acting naturally," human-object hybrids, AI, plus puppetry, being on hold, how to take notes on philosophy, Elf Ron Hubbard, and more.

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Continuing on Raphaël Millière and Cameron Buckner's "A Philosophical Introduction to Language Models, Part I: Continuity With Classic Debates."

We go through the various arguably important features for intelligence, including particular ways of learning and comprehending language, being able to generalize from the data set, and to use a world model to navigate problems. Can something have intelligence without having intentions, and do programmed goals count as intentions?

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On "An Argument for the Identity Theory" (1966), which unlike U.T. Place who merely argued that minds could be brains, argues that minds must be brains, in all possible worlds.

The argument appears functionalist: mental states are defined by their causal roles, and causality is naturally the realm of the physical, so mental causality makes most sense if it is a way of talking about physical causality.

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Dan played bass for and co-fronted NYC band Hypnolovewheel, with six releases 1987-1993. Since 1994, he has fronted Hoboken's The Special Pillow, with nine releases to date.

We discuss "Fond and Foggy" from The Special Pillow Meets the Space Monster (2024 EP), I Woke Up, also by The Special Pillow, from World's Finest (2020), and "Wow" by Hypnolovewheel from Angel Food (1992). End song: "Automatic Doom" from Inside the Special Pillow (2003). Intro: "Sabrina (Open Your Window)" by Plastic Device (1983), unreleased until E Pluribus Plastic (2019). To hear more, look up these bands on bandcamp.com.

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