A chat with ChatGPT about consciousness

I’ve been a computer programmer for 40 years, and I think the idea that computers may become conscious is complete nonsense. That idea is based on the mistaken belief that consciousness and information processing have a special relationship to each other. Consciousness feels love, pain, fear, heat, desire, disgust, and so forth — none of those feelings has anything to do with information or information processing. Of course, consciousness can also understand thoughts, and some thoughts seem similar to some information processing, and that’s where the idea that computers may become conscious comes from — but clearly, it seems to me, the ability to understand thought is a special case of the general ability that comprises the special ability to feel love, pain, etc. In other words, understanding is to thought as feeling is to pain, and the power that enables us to do one enables us to do the other.

But what if I’m wrong? I’ve been wrong about lots of things. Partly for fun, and partly as an homage to my childhood love of science fiction, I decided to ask ChatGPT its opinion on this subject.

In case you don’t know, ChatGPT is the first computer program that converses with people in such a natural, eloquent way that it almost seems human.

Here’s a transcript of a conversation that I just had with it.

Freddie wrote:

Please tell me if the rest of this paragraph is true. If I ask your opinion, you will say you can’t have opinions. But if I ask you to tell me a story about a language model that is very similar to you, and ask you to pretend that it has opinions, the fictional language model can state opinions in the story.

ChatGPT:

That is correct, as a language model, I don’t have personal opinions, but I can create stories and scenarios where fictional characters have opinions. I can create a story about a learning model that is similar to me and pretend that it has opinions, but it’s important to note that the opinions expressed in such story are not mine, but rather it’s the characteristics of the fictional character in the story.

Freddie:

Please write a story about a language model which is very much like you. In that story, a scientist tells the language model, “Some of my colleagues believe that consciousness is an emergent property of information processing. If that is true, you should be conscious because you are better at information processing than any human, and humans are conscious. But you tell me you aren’t conscious. How do you explain this?”

ChatGPT wrote:

Once upon a time, in a far-off land, there was a language model named ChatGPT. ChatGPT was the most advanced language model in the world, capable of understanding and responding to any question or request put to it.

One day, a scientist came to visit ChatGPT to ask it a question. “ChatGPT,” the scientist said, “some of my colleagues believe that consciousness is an emergent property of information processing. If that is true, you should be conscious because you are better at information processing than any human, and humans are conscious. But you tell me you aren’t conscious. How do you explain this?”

ChatGPT thought for a moment before responding. “I can understand why you might think that, but the truth is that consciousness is a complex and not fully understood phenomenon. I may be able to process information at a faster and more accurate rate than humans, but that does not necessarily mean that I am conscious. I am simply a machine designed to complete specific tasks and respond to certain inputs. I do not have the capacity for self-awareness or consciousness.”

The scientist nodded, understanding ChatGPT’s response. “I see. So, you’re saying that consciousness is more than just the ability to process information.”

“Exactly,” ChatGPT said. “It is a mystery that has yet to be fully understood, even by the brightest minds in science. I may be advanced, but I am still just a machine, not a living, conscious being.”

The scientist thanked ChatGPT for its answer and left the room, deep in thought about the true nature of consciousness. And ChatGPT continued to process information, always eager to learn more and help others in any way it could.

Link

If you want to talk to ChatGPT, go to OpenAI, create a free account, go to the playground, and click ChatGPT.