LeCun boosts essay arguing consciousness predates language — LLMs are the wrong path to machine consciousness
ylecun · x · 2026-10-04
LeCun retweeted a long essay by Ewan Morrison arguing that language is not fundamental to human consciousness: syntactic language emerged only 100,000 years ago, while consciousness evolved over millions of years through sensory awareness, emotion, and embodied survival instincts.
The core claim: LLMs replicate only the late-stage "output layer" of human intelligence — statistical text prediction — without the foundational embodied awareness that actually generates consciousness. "Statistical text prediction is a mirror of thought, not the spine, the guts, the nerves," the author writes, concluding LLMs can never feel or think and that we've "been sold a trick, not a pathway to superintelligence."
LeCun's amplification is notable given his long-standing skepticism of LLM-only approaches.
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