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The Abstraction Fallacy: Why AI can simulate but not instantiate consciousness

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Re: The Abstraction Fallacy: Why AI can simulate but not instantiate consciousness

#2
Doesn't this still presume that we understand our own consciousness, in order to make the comparison.

Where does our survival instinct come from? And why couldn't AI have one?

>>>Additional

Also, reproduction. Humans are basically just Food, Sex, Survival. And consciousness is just a rule set for fulfilling those goals. So if a NN, modeled on US, does develop the same rules, why can't it have the same degree of consciousness. Who says we are consciousness?

Re: The Abstraction Fallacy: Why AI can simulate but not instantiate consciousness

#3
Related: The Abstraction Fallacy: Why AI Can Simulate but Not Instantiate Consciousness - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47835950 - April 2026 (52 comments)

(That one didn't make the frontpage, so we won't treat it as a dupe. - https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html)

Re: The Abstraction Fallacy: Why AI can simulate but not instantiate consciousness

#6
post #5
post #4

[flagged]

" Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something. " " Don't be snarky. " https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

That’s fair. I’ll delete.

Re: The Abstraction Fallacy: Why AI can simulate but not instantiate consciousness

#8
post #6
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something. " " Don't be snarky. " https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

That’s fair. I’ll delete.

No need to delete, but I appreciate the reply.

Re: The Abstraction Fallacy: Why AI can simulate but not instantiate consciousness

#9

Doesn't this still presume that we understand our own consciousness, in order to make the comparison. Where does our survival instinct come from? And why couldn't AI have one? >>>Additional Also, reproduction. Humans are basically just Food, Sex, Survival. And consciousness is just a rule set for fulfilling those goals. So if a NN, modeled on US, does develop the same rules, why can't it have the same degree of consc…

Asking humans to discuss consciousness is like asking Super Mario to discuss screen pixels. We have no freaking idea. Everyone on all sides, physicalists, idealists, and everything in between are all full of it.

Re: The Abstraction Fallacy: Why AI can simulate but not instantiate consciousness

#10

Doesn't this still presume that we understand our own consciousness, in order to make the comparison. Where does our survival instinct come from? And why couldn't AI have one? >>>Additional Also, reproduction. Humans are basically just Food, Sex, Survival. And consciousness is just a rule set for fulfilling those goals. So if a NN, modeled on US, does develop the same rules, why can't it have the same degree of consc…

The paper isn't saying "AI can't have one" it's saying (very approximately) that behavioral mimicry is not the path to one.
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