Could a Machine Be Conscious?

Home , Chinese room, Turing test

Could a Machine be Conscious?

Key Stage 4 Programme – Spring 2014

Pupil Name ______

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Timetable and Assignment Submission Timetable – Tutorials

Tutorial Date Time Location

Wadham College, 1 (Launch Trip) Thursday 27 th February 9.30-16.00 University of Oxford

2 Wednesday 5 th March 14.00-16.00 Wembley High

3 Wednesday 12 th March 14.00-16.00 Wembley High

4 Wednesday 19 th March 14.00-16.00 Wembley High

5 Wednesday 2nd April 14.00-16.00 Wembley High

6 (Graduation Trip) Fortnight commencing 12 th May 14.00-16.00 University of Sussex

Timetable – Homework Assignments

Homework Assignment Description Due Date

Tutorial 1

Tutorial 2

Tutorial 3

Tutorial 4

Tutorial 5

Assignment Submission – Lateness and Plagiarism

Lateness Submission after midnight on Wednesday 23 rd April 10 marks deducted Plagiarism Some plagiarism 10 marks deducted Moderate plagiarism 20 marks deducted Extreme plagiarism Automatic fail

Assignment Submission – Virtual Learning Environment VLE username VLE password

Please remember the following key details...

• You are able log into the VLE either through the link on our website ( www.thebrilliantclub.org ) or going directly to the VLE site at ( vle.thebrilliantclub.org ).

• When you submit your final assignment, please remember that you need to do so through the ‘My Activities’ tab and not as an attachment to a message.

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The Brilliant Club KS4 Programme – Spring 2014 – Pupil Feedback Report

Grade Marks What this means 1st 70+ Performing to an excellent standard at AS-Level 2:1 60-69 Performing to a good standard at AS-Level 2:2 50-59 Performing to an excellent standard at GCSE 3rd 40-49 Performing to a good standard at GCSE Fail 0-39 Performing below a good standard at GCSE Did not submit DNS No assignment received by The Brilliant Club

• Lateness Any lateness 10 marks deducted Plagiarism Some plagiarism 10 marks deducted Moderate plagiarism 20 marks deducted Extreme plagiarism Automatic fail

• Name of PhD Tutor Mr Alex Kaiserman Title of Assignment Is the Turing Test a good test for consciousness? If not, what is?

Name of Pupil Name of School

ORIGINAL MARK / 100 FINAL MARK / 100 DEDUCTED MARKS FINAL GRADE

•

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Contents

Course Rationale Page 5

Mark Scheme Page 6

Glossary of Keywords Page 7

Tutorial 1 – The Turing Test Page 8

• Exit Slip (Example) Page 11

• Exit Slip Page 12

• Homework Page 13

Tutorial 2 – The Chinese Room Page 15

• Homework 1 Page 18

• Exit Slip Page 19

• Homework 2 Page 20

Tutorial 3 – The Hard Problems Page 21

• Homework Page 23

• Exit Slip Page 24

Tutorial 4 – The Future of Artificial Intelligence Page 25

• Exit Slip Page 29

• Homework – Essay draft Page 30

Tutorial 5 – Writing a Top- Notch Philosophy Essay Page 31

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Course Rationale

This course is centred around the question: ‘Could a machine be conscious?’ We’ve built machines that can beat human experts at chess, driving cars, stock market trading, and many other activities. But could we ever build a machine that is conscious ? What would such a machine be like?

• Tutorial 1 starts with the father of computer science, Alan Turing, and his Turing Test for consciousness. • Tutorial 2 looks at a famous objection to the Turing Test from philosopher John Searle, called ‘The Chinese Room’, which aims to show that even computers which can simulate human behaviour exactly aren’t conscious. • Tutorial 3 delves into the murky world of phenomenal consciousness – the ‘what-it-is-likeness’ of experience – and analyzes such wacky philosophers’ inventions as philosophical zombies, spectrum inversion, and Mary the scientist in her black-and-white-room. • Tutorial 5 is all about the future of Artificial Intelligence. We’ll worry about the Singularity – the moment when machines become better at making machines than we are, and technological advancements that would have taken decades happen in the blink of an eye.

Along the way, you’ll pick up a toolkit of philosophical skills and concepts – necessary vs. sufficient conditions, category mistakes, logical fallacies, objections and replies – that will help you in all walks of life in getting your point across and weeding out weaknesses in the arguments of others. You’ll write a philosophical essay on the adequacy of the Turing Test. You’ll learn to think critically and imaginatively about the world around you, asking questions no-one else would have thought of. And, of course, you’ll see some pretty cool robots.

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Mark Scheme

Key Skill 1st 2.2 3rd

£ Pupils display a detailed £ Pupils show good knowledge £ Pupils successfully identify knowledge and understanding of a and understanding of relevant one or more debates, and number of different specific debates, which is limited in display a rudimentary debates relevant to the question. either breadth or depth. understanding of them. £ Pupils have a sophisticated £ Pupils are able to identify £ Pupils attempt to present understanding of the available positions within a debate. There positions or arguments, with positions within certain debates, are some attempts to some inaccuracies. Knowledge and the points on which they agree reconstruct key arguments, with £ There is limited use of and disagree, and the standard some exegetical flaws. There are philosophical terminology. Understanding arguments used to support them. some successful attempts to £ There are consistently successful compare and/or contrast attempts to use philosophical different positions. terminology, e.g. £ Philosophical terminology is necessary/sufficient conditions, used, but either infrequently or, phenomenal consciousness, etc. in places, inappropriately. £ There is evidence of independent research into the question. £ Pupils can effectively identify £ Pupils can identify positions £ There is some attempt to positions within the logical space within the logical space of a identify rival positions in a of a debate, describe them, and debate and show some debate. explain their significance (e.g. understanding of the points on £ Pupils present and express avoid problems with this position, which they agree or disagree. dissatisfaction with one or allow one to preserve this £ There is some attempt to more arguments, and make intuition, etc.). criticize arguments for a limited use of analytical £ Pupils can identify flaws in an position, which is limited in techniques to defend the argument and demonstrate its either scope or persuasiveness. verdict. Critical Analysis and limitations using a range of critical £ Pupils present their own £ There is an attempt to state techniques (deriving false position. There is some attempt one’s own position, and Self-Reflection conclusions from premises, to explain its advantages. Some compare it to others. producing counterexamples, etc.) comparisons are made with £ Pupils present and explain their other positions, with some flaws own position. They explain how in understanding. There is some their position avoids any problems attempt to consider objections identified with other positions. to or limitations of the view, They consider objections and which are either unsatisfactorily provide replies. Where or incompletely answered. appropriate, they acknowledge the limitations of their position. £ Pupils present a clear, coherent, £ Pupils clearly answer the £ The question is clearly and complete answer to the question asked. There is some answered, but either question asked. There is no or evidence of ambiguity or of inconsistently, ambiguously, little evidence of ambiguity or making different claims at or incompletely. inconsistency. different points in the essay. £ Pupils demonstrate an ability £ Pupils present a sustained, £ Pupils make points, arguments to structure their thoughts compelling, fluent case for their or present examples which are into paragraphs and position. clearly directed towards sections. £ The essay is effectively structured defending their position. Some £ Points are made and Philosophical – points are organized into arguments are either un- defended, with some paragraphs or sections, there is an compelling or miss their mark. success. There is limited use Argumentation introduction and conclusion, there There are some flaws in of examples to illustrate are few tangents or discontinuities spelling/grammar/fluency which points. Some connections in the argument. don’t compromise the are made between different £ A full range of argumentative coherence of the writing. debates. There are some techniques are effectively £ There is limited evidence of flaws in employed – strong authorial voice, philosophical argumentative spelling/grammar/fluency use of examples and thought techniques. which can occasionally experiments, anticipating and comprise coherence. replying to objections, considering and criticizing rival positions.

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Glossary of Keywords

Artificial Intelligence : Intelligence in man-made things, like robots.

Behaviour : Movements and actions that things perform.

Ergo: Therefore.

Machine : Something built by humans to perform a certain function, e.g. a washing machine.

Machine Learning : The practice of making machines which can teach themselves a task.

Necessary Condition : X is a necessary condition for Y if Y cannot happen without X.

Neural Basis : The state of your brain that brings about a certain experience.

Philosophical Zombie: A being that is physically exactly like an ordinary human being, but which has no conscious experiences.

Simulation : Imitating the behaviour of something in a different kind of way.

Singularity : The moment when machines become better than humans at making machines.

Sufficient Condition: X is a sufficient condition for Y if X is by itself enough for Y.

Thesis: A short, clear, answer to an important question.

Though Experiment : Like a normal experiment, but in your imagination.

Write any further words you come across below:

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Tutorial 1 – The Turing Test

Objectives • To start thinking about what it means to be ‘conscious’. • To introduce the Turing Test for consciousness.

Starter – Complete the Venn Diagram

Feels Pain

Understands where it Is Intelligent came from

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Alan Turing – The Father of Artificial Intelligence

Alan Turing was a British mathematician who is credited as the founder of computer science. He is perhaps most famous for his work at Bletchley Park, Britain's codebreaking centre during World War 2. He led the team that cracked the Enigma Code, the cipher the Germans used to encrypt their communications. Sir Harry Hinsley, official historian of British Intelligence in World War II, famously predicted that Alan Turing’s team shortened the war "by not less than two years and probably by four years".

Turing was arrested for homosexuality in 1952, when homosexual acts were still illegal in the UK. He committed suicide by cyanide poisoning two years later, aged 41. On Christmas eve 2013, he was granted a royal pardon by the Queen.

The Turing Test Here is the start of Turing’s famous article, Computing Machinery and Intelligence , published in 1950:

“I propose to consider the question, "Can machines think?" This should begin with definitions of the meaning of the terms "machine" and "think."...Instead of attempting such a definition I shall replace the question by another, which is closely related to it and is expressed in relatively unambiguous words. The new form of the problem can be described in terms of a game which we call the 'imitation game." (Turing 1950: 433)

Here’s the game. There are two rooms. In one room is a computer, A, and a person, B; in the other room is another person, C – the interrogator. C can communicate with A and B only through an online messenger. She can ask A and B any question she likes , and as many questions as she likes. Afterwards, she has to guess who is the machine and who is the person. If, after a number of plays of the game, C fails to guess accurately who is who, the machine has passed the Turing Test.

Turing’s Thesis: If a machine passes the Turing Test, it is conscious.

Activity 1

You are the interrogator in a Turing Test. But there’s a twist – you can only ask one question . What question would you ask and why?

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Another famous philosopher, Daniel Dennett, suggested asking the players in the Turing Test the following question:

“An Irishman found a genie in a bottle who offered him two wishes. “First I’ll have a pint of Guinness,” said the Irishman, and when it appeared he took several long drinks from it and was delighted to see that the glass filled itself magically as he drank. “What about your second wish?” asked the genie. “Oh well,” said the Irishman, “that’s easy. I’ll have another one of these!”

--Please explain this story to me, and tell me if there is anything funny or sad about it.” (Dennett 1984)

What’s good about this question? What kind of things would a machine need to successfully answer it?

Necessary vs. Sufficient Conditions

• According to Turing, passing the Turing Test is a sufficient condition for consciousness – if it passes, then we can say that it’s conscious. • But it’s not a necessary condition for consciousness – a machine can be conscious without being able to perfectly imitate human behaviour. (After all, humans can be pretty stupid sometimes...).

Activity 2 No machine has yet passed the Turing Test. But suppose one did. Where would you place it in the Venn Diagram on page 8? Would it be intelligent? Would it understand where it came from? Would it feel pain?

Let’s discuss it.

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Exit Ticket (EXAMPLE)

At the end of the Brilliant Club course, you will write a 2000 word essay answering the question: ‘ Is the Turing Test a good test for consciousness in machines? If not, what is?’

Your essay will defend a thesis . A thesis is a short, clear, answer to an important question. Here’s an example of a thesis:

“The Turing Test is not a good test for consciousness, because it a machine can pass it without truly understanding the answers it gives”.

Fill in this exit ticket after every tutorial – it will help you develop your thesis and think about what you need to defend it.

My current thesis is... A machine that passes the Turing Test is conscious, but only if it can perceive and manipulate its environment. • Explain what, if anything, is wrong with the Turing Test. • Say whether you think there’s a better test for consciousness.

The most important I learnt Turing’s Thesis – that if a machine can convince an interrogator that it’s human, then it’s conscious. I learnt that the most effective questions are ones things I learnt today relating to emotions or social skills. This means that the Turing Test is a really were... hard test to pass. • Write down at least two things you learnt. • How do they relate to the essay question?

What I need to know I need to think about what kinds of non-human intelligence there might be, to more about to defend understand why the Turing Test is not a necessary condition for consciousness. my thesis is... I also need to know more about how computers work, to know whether they really understand what they’re doing. • Is there anything you didn’t understand? • What are the gaps in your knowledge? • How might an opponent object to your arguments? What do you need to strengthen them?

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Exit Ticket – Tutorial 1

At the end of the Brilliant Club course, you will write a 2000 word essay answering the question: ‘ Is the Turing Test a good test for consciousness in machines? If not, what is?’

Your essay will defend a thesis . A thesis is a short, clear, answer to an important question. Here’s an example of a thesis:

“The Turing Test is not a good test for consciousness, because it a machine can pass it without truly understanding the answers it gives”.

Fill in this exit ticket after every tutorial – it will help you develop your thesis and think about what you need to defend it.

My current thesis is... • Explain what, if anything, is wrong with the Turing Test. • Say whether you think there’s a better test for consciousness.

The most important things I learnt today were... • Write down at least two things you learnt. • How do they relate to the essay question?

What I need to know more about to defend my thesis is... • Is there anything you didn’t understand? • What are the gaps in your knowledge? • How might an opponent object to your arguments? What do you need to strengthen them?

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Homework Over the page is an article by John Searle. Underline any words you don’t understand. I expect you to look up the meanings of the words, or ask me for an explanation in the next tutorial. There is a glossary of key words on page 7 to help you.

Afterwards, answer the following questions. Write your answers underneath each question

1. Given a big enough rule book, would John Searle in the Chinese Room be able to pass the Turing Test in Chinese?

2. Does John Searle understand Chinese? Why / why not?

3. (Slightly harder): Imagine the Chinese Room inside a giant robot, with the outputs controlling the robots’ arms, legs, a speech generator, and so on. Does the robot understand Chinese? Why / why not?

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Tutorial 2 – The Chinese Room

Objectives • To introduce the Chinese Room thought experiment. • To discuss the system reply and the robot reply to the Chinese Room argument

Starter – Can you speak Mandarin?

Rulebook

If you receive this string of shapes...... send back this string of shapes. 您好你了解中国当然我做的你怎么样

什么是你最喜欢的颜色绿色

什么是你最喜欢的科目哲学

告诉我一些明智的凡事都有美女，但不是每个人都看到了

A Thought Experiment

Now imagine John Searle inside a room, with a much bigger rulebook. Chinese speakers can ask questions, which are displayed, in Mandarin, on a screen inside the room. John Searle then chooses appropriate symbols according to the rulebook, and puts them in the output box.

Here is Xi Jinping, the president of China: And here is John Searle, in his Chinese Room:

Suppose the rulebook is so detailed, that Xi Jinping and the Chinese Room give exactly the same responses to exactly the same questions.

Think, Pair, Share

1. Would the Chinese Room pass the Turing Test? 2. Does the Chinese Room, or anything inside it, understand Mandarin ?

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Counterexamples

If you answered YES to question 1 and NO to question 2, then you’ve found a counterexample to the Turing Test. A counterexample is exception to a general rule – it’s an example that shows that a thesis is false. Remember Turing’s Thesis:

Turing’s Thesis: If a machine passes the Turing Test, it is conscious.

John Searle’s Chinese Room does pass the Turing Test, but it isn’t conscious!

Spot the Difference

If Xi Jinping understands Mandarin, but the Chinese Room doesn’t, what’s the difference ? What does Xi Jinping have that the Chinese Room doesn’t have?

Let’s brainstorm it together.

The Robot Reply

According to the Robot Reply, what’s missing in the Chinese Room is the ability to perceive and manipulate its environment . Xi Jinping has eyes and a mouth and a nose to explore his environment with; and he has hands and feet to manipulate his environment. The Chinese Room has none of these things.

So how about if we put the Chinese Room inside a robot ? The robot has cameras and microphones to sense the world around it. Information from these come into Searle’s room, he manipulates symbols according to the rulebook, and then sends out other symbols which tells the robot’s speech generator, arms and legs what to do. Call him CHINATBOT . CHINATBOT can have a perfect conversation in Mandarin. Meet CHINATBOT

Here’s a picture of Albert Einstein: Here’s a picture of Einstein’s brain (removed after his death, of course):

Einstein understood physics (perhaps better than anyone). But his brain didn’t understand physics – it’s just the control centre, it’s not itself conscious.

By analogy: Although John Searle doesn’t understand Mandarin – he’s just the control centre – the robot does!

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An advocate of the robot reply is the Cambridge philosophy, Tim Crane:

“...the proper response to Searle's argument is: sure, Searle-in- the-room, or the room alone, cannot understand Chinese. But if you let the outside world have some impact on the room, [consciousness] might begin to get a foothold. But of course, this concedes that thinking cannot be simply symbol manipulation.” (Crane 1991: 129).

John Searle’s Reply

You’ll listen to an extract of an interview with John Searle, where he explains what he thinks is missing from the Chinese Room. Here’s a transcript of the extract:

“I see the prospects of building artificial consciousness as not at all impossible. I mean we're a long way from being able to do it, because we don't know how our own brain does it. But the objection I have is that you could get that, just by producing the right kind of external behaviour. The point is you've got to find out what's going on inside, that produces the behaviour...The mistake that a lot of people make...is to think that somehow or other, the simulation is the real thing, and what I've always argued is the simulation of consciousness stands to real consciousness, the way that that simulation of say digestion, stands to real digestion. You get a perfect computer program, to simulate digestion, that doesn't mean you can then stuff a pizza into the computer and it will digest it. No, it's just a picture, a model, and that's what I think we get with the brain.”

Think, Pair, Share

Divide into three groups. Each group has a question to think about. Using your group’s colour, highlight the parts of the passage above that are relevant to your question.

Group A Group B Group C According to the Turing Test, is What would Searle say about the What’s the difference between there a difference between Robot Reply? the Chinese Room and a truly simulating understanding of conscious machine, according to Mandarin and actually Searle? understanding it?

Discuss the question with your partner.

Now share your results with the rest of the group!

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Objections and Replies

Pick a thesis which best represents your current view:

1. There’s nothing wrong with the Turing Test – John Searle does understand Mandarin. 2. The Turing Test only works if the machine can perceive and manipulate its environment – John Searle doesn’t understand Mandarin, but CHINATBOT does. 3. The Turing Test is wrong – it matters how behaviour is being generated as to whether it displays understanding or merely simulates it. 4. The Turing Test is wrong, but not for any of the reasons above.

Write a short paragraph explaining your thesis and why you think it’s true.

For homework: Find someone who disagrees with you and swap with them. Read what you’ve been given carefully . What exactly is wrong with it? Write an objection to their view.

Here are some tips:

• Don’t just say that they’re wrong – say as precisely as you can where they’ve gone wrong. • Try and use some examples to illustrate what you mean.

Here is the full interview with John Searle and Igor Aleksander, a professor of cognitive science: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00545h7

Lots more information about the Chinese Room argument can be found here: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/chinese-room/

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Exit Ticket – Tutorial 2

At the end of the Brilliant Club course, you will write a 2000 word essay answering the question: ‘ Is the Turing Test a good test for consciousness in machines? If not, what is?’

Your essay will defend a thesis . A thesis is a short, clear, answer to an important question. Here’s an example of a thesis:

“The Turing Test is not a good test for consciousness, because it a machine can pass it without truly understanding the answers it gives”.

Fill in this exit ticket after every tutorial – it will help you develop your thesis and think about what you need to defend it.

My current thesis is... • Explain what, if anything, is wrong with the Turing Test. • Say whether you think there’s a better test for consciousness.

The most important things I learnt today were... • Write down at least two things you learnt. • How do they relate to the essay question?

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Homework Here are extracts from two famous articles. Read them, and think about the following question: Is there something it is like to be CHINATBOT ? Bring your answer to the next tutorial!

What Is It Like to Be A Bat? by Thomas Nagel (1974)

Conscious experience is a widespread phenomenon. It occurs at many levels of animal life, though we cannot be sure of its presence in the simpler organisms, and it is very difficult to say in general what provides evidence of it. (Some extremists have been prepared to deny it even of mammals other than man.) No doubt it occurs in countless forms totally unimaginable to us, on other planets in other solar systems throughout the universe. But no matter how the form may vary, the fact that an organism has conscious experience at all means, basically, that there is something it is like to be that organism. There may be further implications about the form of the experience; there may even (though I doubt it) be implications about the behavior of the organism. But fundamentally an organism has conscious mental states if and only if there is something that it is to be that organism—something it is like for the organism.

We may call this the subjective character of experience. It is not captured by any of the familiar, recently devised reductive analyses of the mental, for all of them are logically compatible with its absence. It is not analyzable in terms of any explanatory system of functional states, or intentional states, since these could be ascribed to robots or automata that behaved like people though they experienced nothing. It is not analyzable in terms of the causal role of experiences in relation to typical human behavior—for similar reasons.

Epiphenomenal Qualia FRANK JACKSON

It is undeniable that the physical, chemical and biological sciences have provided a great deal of information about the world we live in and about ourselves. I will use the label "physical information" for this kind of information, and also for information that automatically comes along with it. For example, if a medical scientist tells me enough about the processes that go on in my nervous system, and about how they relate to happenings in the world around me, to what has happened in the past and is likely to happen in the future, to what happens to other similar and dissimilar organisms, and the like, he or she tells me--if I am clever enough to fit it together appropriately-- about what is often called the functional role of those states in me (and in organisms in general in similar cases). This information, and its kin, I also label "physical." [....] Mary is a brilliant scientist who is, for whatever reason, forced to investigate the world from a black and white room via a black and white television monitor. She specialises in the neurophysiology of vision and acquires, let us suppose, all the physical information there is to obtain about what goes on when we see ripe tomatoes, or the sky, and use terms like "red," "blue," and so on. She discovers, for example, just which wave-length combinations from the sky stimulate the retina, and exactly how this produces via the central nervous system the contraction of the vocal chords and expulsion of air from the lungs that results in the uttering of the sentence "The sky is blue." (It can hardly be denied that it is in principle possible to obtain all this physical information from black and white television, otherwise the Open University would of necessity need to use colour television.)

What will happen when Mary is released from her black and white room or is given a colour television monitor? Will she learn anything or not? It seems just obvious that she will learn something about the world and our visual experience of it. But then it is inescapable that her previous knowledge was incomplete. But she had all the physical information. Ergo there is more to have than that.

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Tutorial 3 – The Hard Problem(s)

Objectives • To introduce the hard problems of consciousness. • To discuss Mary’s room and zombie thought experiments.

Starter – Key-Word Taboo

Split into two teams, and nominate a speaker. The speaker must pick up keywords from a pile and try and explain it to the other members of your team, without using any words derived from the word on the card! You get a point for every word your team members guess. The team with the most points win!

Block’s Hard Problems of Consciousness

You’ll watch an extract of an interview with the American philosopher, Ned Block. Here is a transcript of the extract:

“The hard problem of consciousness...is the problem of how it is that neural basis of a conscious experience is the neural basis of that experience, rather than some other experience, or no experience at all. That is a problem that we do not now know how to solve, at all. There’s another problem which I call the harder problem, which is

the problem of other minds. It’s the problem of how we could tell..that a creature made of a very different material from us, made in a different way, like the famous Commander Data of the Star Trek series, how we would know whether that creature is conscious.

The hard problem of consciousness is the problem of explaining why things are like this...

...rather than like this...

...or indeed like this.

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Why is it that a particular set of neural firings should be accompanied by this conscious experience rather than that one?

Notice that we don’t get a similar problem for non-conscious properties. Why is it that this particular set of atoms arranged in this way is accompanied by a table, rather than a chair? This is obviously a stupid question – all it is to be a table is to be a bunch of atoms arranged in a certain way. But consciousness seems different!

Zombies The philosophical zombie was invented by the Australian philosopher, David Chalmers:

A zombie — in the philosophers’ rather than the Hollywood sense of the term — is a being that is physically exactly like an ordinary human being, but which has no conscious experiences – there is nothing it is like to be

that being – all is dark inside.

*Not like this*

CHALLENGE: Can you convince me you’re not a zombie? Can you convince me there’s something it is like to be you ? (There will be a prize for the best attempt...)

Mary’s Room

Mary is an expert colour scientist, who has lived her entire life in a black- and-white room. She knows everything there is to know about human vision – how the brain works, what wavelengths of light correspond to people’s use of the term red, and so on.

On day, she leaves her black-and-white room, and sees a glorious sunset. According to Frank Jackson, Mary has learnt something new – she’s learnt what it’s like to experience red! And that’s not something she could have learnt from the confines of her room.

Conclusion: No amount of physical information about someone can tell you what it’s like to be them, or even whether there’s anything it’s to be them at all.

Now imagine that we’ve built a machine that acts for all the world like it’s conscious. It even has a brain, just like a human brain, except that it’s made of silicon transistors rather than neurons. We know everything there is to know about this machine – everything physical, that is. Can we know whether it’s really conscious? Can we know whether there’s something it’s like to be that machine?

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According to Paul Churchland, we’re just underestimating the power of science. We now know that heat , the thing you feel close to a fire, is actually vibrations of particles – the faster the vibrations, the more intense the heat. But we didn’t always know this. In the 18 th Century, scientists like Antoine Lavoisier thought that heat was a fluid that flowed from hot things to cold things. Although we can imagine a world in which such a theory turned out to be true, modern science has shown it to be false.

So maybe , future scientific advances will allow us to explain consciousness in physical terms – we just haven’t tried hard enough yet!

Debate

We’ll have a debate on the question: ‘ Can we ever know whether a machine is conscious?’

Team A – You’ll be defending the answer ‘ YES’ to the question above. Team B – You’ll be defending the answer ‘ NO’ to the question above.

There are three roles: Opening Speaker, Responder, Questioner . Decide amongst yourselves who should be assigned to which role!

Homework

You should have received your defence of your thesis from Tutorial 2, with an objection from your opponent. Write a reply to the objection . The same rules apply: Read the objection carefully . What exactly is wrong with it? Defend your thesis against the objection.

Bonus points if you use material from today’s tutorial in your reply!

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Exit Ticket – Tutorial 3

At the end of the Brilliant Club course, you will write a 2000 word essay answering the question: ‘ Is the Turing Test a good test for consciousness in machines? If not, what is?’

Your essay will defend a thesis . A thesis is a short, clear, answer to an important question. Here’s an example of a thesis:

“The Turing Test is not a good test for consciousness, because it a machine can pass it without truly understanding the answers it gives”.

Fill in this exit ticket after every tutorial – it will help you develop your thesis and think about what you need to defend it.

My current thesis is... • Explain what, if anything, is wrong with the Turing Test. • Say whether you think there’s a better test for consciousness.

The most important things I learnt today were... • Write down at least two things you learnt. • How do they relate to the essay question?

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Tutorial 4 – The Future of Artificial Intelligence

Objectives • To introduce the idea of consciousness as ability to learn. • To discuss the dangers of the singularity.

Starter – Beat the Machine

Here is a list of activities that machines can do. But which of them can machines do better than humans? Put each activity in the right column.

• Chess • Making money on the • Crossword puzzles • Driving a car stock market • Starcraft • Flying a helicopter • Cooking a meal • Detecting cancer • Writing a top 40 hit • Go (the Chinese board • Making computer • Predicting elections game) chips • Football

Machines better than humans Humans better than machines

Machine Learning

The most exciting development in artificial intelligence in the last few years has been machine learning . Rather than telling a machine how to do something, scientists have discovered that they are more successful if they tell a machine what they want it to do, and let it teach itself!

Scientists at Stanford University have built a helicopter that has taught itself to fly better than any human pilot!

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If robots can teach themselves to walk, fly, and drive better than us… how long until they teach themselves to make machines better than us?

Philosophers call this moment ‘The Singularity’ . The Futurist Ray Kurzweil reckons the singularity could happen as early as 2045 , when you are in your mid-40s!

This will lead to an intelligence explosion – a frightening increase in the intelligence of machines, way past our own intelligence.

In pairs, look at the graph below, showing the change in computing power over time.

• The computing power of the human brain is 10 16 FLOPS. How long will it take for computing power to exceed the power of the human brain? • The computing power of every human combined is 10 26 FLOPS. How long will it take for computing power to exceed the power of every human on earth?

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Three Eras of Complexity Humans evolved from single-celled organisms which appeared on earth 3.7 billion years ago . It took over a billion years for multi-celled organisms to evolve. We had to wait until 600 million years ago to get jellyfish; 500 million years ago to get plants; and 200 million years ago to get dinosaurs. Humans only appeared 200,000 years ago.

If you condensed the history of life on earth into 1 day, humans would only appear at 11:59:56 pm!

It has taken technology just 200 years to create what it took evolution over 4 billion years to achieve!

But things will develop unimaginably faster than that once machines making machines takes over from human technology. Vastly complex things will be developed in the blink of an eye. Machines will be in control of every aspect of our lives.

“The moment when humans crafted their first tools marked the start of an irreversible trend of replacing evolution with technological progress. Evolution is helpless against technologies such as genetic engineering, synthetic life, and radical life extension…So producing humans, and especially Charles Darwin, was evolution’s greatest mistake. But technological progress does not go on for ever either. Artificial Intelligence will be our last invention.” Jaan Tallinn, programmer and founder of Skype.

“The concern is that by creating computers that are as intelligent as humans, we risk yielding control over the planet to intelligences that are simply indifferent to us, and to things that we consider valuable – things such as life and a sustainable environment. If that sounds far-fetched, the pessimists say, just ask gorillas how it feels to compete for resources with the most intelligent species – the reason they are going extinct is not (on the whole) because humans are actively hostile towards them, but because we control the environment in ways that are detrimental to their continuing survival” Huw Price, philosopher at University of Cambridge.

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Imagine…

It’s 2050. The singularity has occurred – machine development is developing faster than we could ever have imagined. They have complete control over our lives and our environments.

Write a prediction for what will happen in the next few years. Try and think about the following questions:

• What will happen when the machines run out of resources on earth? • Will the machines want to keep us alive? • Will the machines feel any duty to look after their creators? Will they feel guilt at our suffering? • Will the super-intelligent machines be conscious? • Will they wonder if we’re conscious?

The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at Cambridge studies the dangers of the singularity. They make recommendations to the government to help avoid it.

Imagine you are a philosopher at the Centre. You have been asked by David Cameron to make three recommendations for reducing the risk of being destroyed by machines.

Now swap with your partner. Which of their suggestions is the most effective , in your opinion? Which is the least effective ?

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Exit Ticket – Tutorial 4

At the end of the Brilliant Club course, you will write a 2000 word essay answering the question: ‘ Is the Turing Test a good test for consciousness in machines? If not, what is?’

Your essay will defend a thesis . A thesis is a short, clear, answer to an important question. Here’s an example of a thesis:

“The Turing Test is not a good test for consciousness, because it a machine can pass it without truly understanding the answers it gives”.

Fill in this exit ticket after every tutorial – it will help you develop your thesis and think about what you need to defend it.

My current thesis is... • Explain what, if anything, is wrong with the Turing Test. • Say whether you think there’s a better test for consciousness.

The most important things I learnt today were... • Write down at least two things you learnt. • How do they relate to the essay question?

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Homework

Write a plan of your essay . You can use the following as a guide if you like.

State your thesis. Explain, briefly , how you’re going to argue for it. Introduction Explain, in detail, how the Turing Test works. Why did Turing introduce it? Why is it a Section 1 sufficient, and not a necessary condition for consciousness?

Describe the Chinese Room objection to Turing’s Thesis. Describe the different possible Section 2 responses – see page 18. For the responses you disagree with, explain, for each one, why you don’t agree. Defend the response you agree with, by explaining why it’s a better position than the others.

Describe the zombie and Mary’s room thought experiments. Show how they pose a Section 3 challenge for ever knowing whether a machine is conscious. Either agree that we’ll never know, or argue that we will. Using your answers in sections 1-3, apply your thesis the question of our future in a Section 4 future controlled by machines. Will we survive? Will the machines feel a duty to spare us?

Summarize all of your essay in a few sentences. Remind the reader what you’ve argued. Conclusion

Now write a draft of your essay! It doesn’t have to be perfect – you’ll have a chance to rewrite it.

My essay draft must be uploaded to the VLE by:

What I’m Looking For

When I mark your essay, I’ll be looking for the following things:

(AO1) Knowledge and Understanding . Do you understand the arguments in the course? Do you show knowledge of all the different positions and responses? Have you done any independent research (e.g. online)?

(AO2) Critical Analysis and Self-Reflection . Do you show an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of various views? Can you explain why your view is better than others? Are you aware of the possible objections to your view and do you answer them?

(AO3) Philosophical Argumentation . Is there a crystal clear answer to the question asked? Do you defend all your opinions? Is your spelling and grammar accurate? Do you use technical terms?

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Tutorial 5 – Writing a Top-Notch Philosophy Essay

Objectives • To receive and understanding feedback on essay drafts • To learn about philosophical techniques in essays

Starter – Mr Kaiserman’s Golden Nuggets

I will pick some of my favourite bits from your drafts. Write down:

• two things you thing are effective about the extract (two stars) • one way you think it could be improved ( a wish ).

Peer Assessment

You have been given another student’s essay. Read it carefully. For each of the learning objectives write down two stars and a wish:

Learning Objective Star 1 Star 2 Wish

Knowledge and Understanding

Critical Analysis and Self- Reflection

Philosophical Argumentation

Now read over your own essay again. What could be improved? Did your partner make any good arguments against your view?

Teacher Assessment

I’ll hand back your marked essay drafts. Read over the comments. Do you have any questions?

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Mr Kaiserman’s Golden Rules

1. Don’t just state opinions; argue for them .

Turing’s Test doesn’t seem like a very good test to According to Turing’s Test, John Searle in his me. Chinese Room understands Mandarin. But all he’s John Searle didn’t think the Turing Test was a good doing is shuffling symbols – that’s not enough to test, and I agree. understand Mandarin. He doesn’t understand it like Most philosophers reject Turing’s Test. he understands English. So Turing’s Test must be false.

2. Keep things simple. Imagine you’re trying to explain your ideas to someone who knows nothing about philosophy.

The zombie argument is destructive for those who The zombie argument shows that two people can be deny the modal subjectivity of phenomenal physically identical, even though one is conscious existence. Turing’s Test is helpless in the face of the but the other isn’t. So we can’t know for sure, using sceptical je-ne-sais-quoi of the argument’s only physical information about machines, whether conclusions. they are conscious.

3. Make the structure of your essay super-obvious.

Don’t: Do: • Make the same point in different places. • Divide up your essay into paragraphs. • Say one thing, then say something different • Use subheadings elsewhere. • Use connectives (see below) • Write long paragraphs with nothing to break • Include an introduction and conclusion. them up.

4. Don’t plagiarise. If it’s another philosopher’s idea, say so. If you’ve found it on the internet, say so. When quoting from any source, use quotation marks “”. Wherever possible state everything in your own words .

The concern is that by creating computers that are Why should we worry about the singularity? Huw as intelligent as humans, we risk yielding control Price claims that “we risk yielding control over the over the planet to intelligences that are simply planet to intelligences that are simply indifferent to indifferent to us. us.” This means that machines may control us, even though they don’t care about us.

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Connecting Words

• because, since, given this argument • thus, therefore, hence, it follows that, consequently • nevertheless, however, but • in the first case, on the other hand

Signposting Words

• I will begin by... • Before I say what is wrong with this argument, I want to... • These passages suggest that... • I will now defend this claim... • Further support for this claim comes from... • For example…

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