It's a waste of time to think about whether an LLM has a subjective experience of reality, and this handily sets aside issues like AI rights. But the fact remains that these next-token-predictors exhibit objective, human-like behaviours, and for that reason the work of in-house philosopher Amanda Askell _is_ important. It's important that Claude is happy, empathic, demonstrates understanding and empathy for the human…
Richard Feynman told of a time when he made the claim that every conscious experience came down to words--basically that you talk to yourself to describe your conscious experiences--and the person he made the claim to, John Tukey, responded as follows:
Tukey: "Do you know the crazy shape of a crankshaft in a car engine?"
Feynman: "Yes, of course."
Tukey: "What words did you use to describe it when you talked to yourself?"
Feynman could not answer, and this made him realize that not all conscious experiences come down to words.