Why computational programs likely can't be conscious: Anna Ciaunica's embodied-mind argument
AnnaCiaunica · x · 2026-10-19
- Cognitive scientist Anna Ciaunica published an essay (translated into Spanish by Pablo Abufom) arguing for skepticism that a computational program can be conscious.
- Her core claim: consciousness is not a thing located in the head but more like a journey — built from every cellular step of the body up to the "neuronal summit," with no step more fundamental than another.
- She stresses that human consciousness rests on embodied, life-and-death experience (breathing, effort, first steps), which purely computational programs lack — the key reason AI likely isn't conscious.
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