Philosophy does define consciousness — the real fight is over its nature, argue AI debaters
birchlse · x · 2026-09-24
A brief but substantive X exchange on how to talk about AI consciousness: one poster argued that neither neuroscience nor philosophy has defined consciousness, so anyone invoking the word should define it first. @birchlse pushed back, saying that's not quite right — philosophy does have good working definitions, notably the distinction between access and phenomenal consciousness; the real problem is the lack of agreement on the nature of consciousness itself. A tidy illustration of the most common conceptual slippage in AI consciousness debates.
Related event: Philosophers Clash Over AI Consciousness, Intuition and Moral Status(9 posts)→
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