Can AI Have Subjective Experience?
erikjbekkers · x · 2026-07-17
This post summarizes a debate regarding AI consciousness/subjective experience:
- One side assumes a priori that experience belongs only to living, self-sustaining systems, and thus dismisses autonomy, embodiment, refusal capabilities, self-maintenance, and relational continuity in artificial systems as mere "simulations."
- The author points out that this stance is hard to falsify because it embeds the conclusion within the premise.
- The core question isn't whether "AI processes information like a thermostat," but rather: Have biological systems already exhausted all possible forms of subjectivity?
Related event: Debate Rages Over AI Consciousness and Human Attachment Risks(3 posts)→
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