Dev reignites AI consciousness debate: it's an emergent property, and the LLM discourse hasn't changed in 4 years

ctjlewis · x · 2026-09-28

Developer ctjlewis posted a thread mocking the recurring "hard problem of consciousness" and qualia debates in AI circles. He argues consciousness is primarily a brain phenomenon and an emergent property, citing that losing an arm doesn't make you dumber while a lobotomy clearly does — and that digital consciousness is in principle possible. He also complains that the "LLMs say they're alive" discourse has been the exact same argument for almost four years, with no genuinely new discussion.

Related event: Developer ctjlewis reaffirms long-held stance on machine consciousness in thread series(8 posts)→

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