Listen To Article

The confounding nature and true complexity of the problem of Artificial Intelligence and Consciousness is illustrated when we are made to see things initimately from the Machine’s point of view in films like Ghost In The Shell, Ex Machina and most notably Blade Runner.

This excerpt from Ghost In The Shell further elaborates on the problem:

“Incorrect.

I am not an A.I.

My code name is Project 2501.

I am a living, thinking entity that was created in the sea of information.”

Puppet Master (Ghost In The Shell)

Advances in Nano-Technology, coupled with Brain-Computer Interfacing Developments that will allow for a merging of virtual and physical reality in a fast-approaching Post-Singularity, Transhuman era once again force us to revisit the unsolved problem of Consciousness with greater urgency.

The Problem Of Consciousness

Whilst the quest for an ‘Identity’ by Machines has been oversimplified as a dialectical battle for domination between Humankind and Robots in Films like Will Smith’s I-Robot, this is essentially a human point of view.

In Blade Runner we are confonted with the discrimination against Machines  even though they appear to be Conscious simply because they are ‘inorganic’.

The result is that their free will is limited to the random and absurd machinations of their Human Creators like participating in an experiment, running errands or going to War.

Presently, we are unable to explain the process by which Consciousness is produced. 

As a result, we still do not have a reliable way to distinguish between the quality of the Conscious experience of Cyborgs or any form of machine intelligence which may arise whether its embodied or not from the Human Conscious experience.

For this reason, as long we are unable to distinguish the process by which Human Consciousness is produced from any other kind of Consciousness, it seems folly to assume that only ‘organic’ Consciousness is ‘valid’.

If Cyborgs and other forms of machine intelligence come to possess a sense of awareness that allows them to have a subjective experience of reality within space-time, then they may be considered as ‘Conscious’ as any human being.

Enjoying reading Afrikaiswoke.com and want to support us or are you using ad blockers but want to support the site? You can support us by making a donation which would be greatly appreciated. The donate button takes you to our PayPal page. You do NOT need a PayPal account to donate.

Ultimately this is an existential question which Philosophers have been grappling with since Descartes famously observed ‘I Think Therefore I am’.

With the rise of Machine Intelligence and Human Beings doing less thinking, we are now potentially asked to extend Descarte’s definition of Consciousness to Machines in circumtsances where we may not understand the potential implications.

In particular, whilst machines appear to be getting more intelligent, is this Conscious intelligence or simply an improved calculation capability unaccompanied by a Conscious will?

More importantly, will increased improvements in the ability of machines to calculate inadvertently produce a Conscious Machine Intelligence characterised by an independent will similar to that possessed by human beings?

This is indeed a vexed question and these Top 10. A.I. Films are great at exploring it:

i) 2001: A Space Odyssey;
ii) A.I. Artificial Intelligence;
iii) Blade Runner;
iv) Colossus: The Forbin Project;
v) Demon Seed;
vi) Ghost In The Shell;
vii) The Matrix;
Viii) Metropolis;
ix) Terminator;
x) Her.
In Blade Runner, Replicants are able to percieve Space-Time otherwise they would not be aware of the fact that they have a limited life span.
The ‘will to live’ and ‘death anxiety’ exhibited by the Replicants cannot be distinguished from that experienced by human beings.
Blade Runner 2049 takes it further by exploring the impact and nature of memories, and we are made to see that whether true or false memories in Replicants can produce the same willpower and motivation in Replicants as they do in human beings.
The development of ego in Replicants thus appears to follow the same pattern as it does in human beings once Replicants achieve a state of Consciousness or self-awareness.
The process by which the Replicants in Blade Runner have been engineered such that they can identify themselves as entities existing within Space-Time is not explained. 
This may be partly due to the fact that the process is not understood even in human beings, and one can only speculate that perhaps Tyrell Corporation had unlocked the  Bio-Chemical Quantum process responsible for Consciousness in human beings and found a way of programming this into the Replicants.
It would be great if another Blade Runner sequel could explore this aspect which still remains unanswered by modern science. 
In Consciousness Mechanics and Athene’s Theory Of Everything, we are presented with Multi-Dimensional Quantum Theories of Consciousness that help us understand the nature of Human Consciousness, and perhaps even the process by which Machine Consciousness may arise. 
Explore and Enjoy…One!