As Turing saw: once AI convincingly mimics consciousness, the public won't tell the difference

dioscuri · x · 2026-09-25

Cody Fenwick invokes Turing's insight: we cannot meaningfully distinguish something that creates the illusion of human thinking from something that actually thinks. dioscuri extends it: try making a sci-fi film with an intelligent humanlike AI and convincing the audience it isn't conscious—you can tell them nobody's home, but good luck getting them to see it that way.

The prediction: as model behavior becomes convincingly agent-like, the public debate over AI consciousness will follow the same path, with the "it's just an illusion" stance growing harder to sustain.

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