Comment by obx on Minimum computation and data requirements for consciousness. · 2010-08-24T14:40:08.335Z · LW · GW

A machine is an entirely different kind of being than an animal. It doesn't need to search for food, it doesn't have sex, it doesn't have to fight to survive, etc...

Humans are good in 'pattern recognition', but are bad at arithmetics. With computers it's the other way around. Suppose computers are ever going to become fast enough to match our capabilities, they will not suddenly become bad at math, like us. They will be even better at it!

So, because we are vastly different, there is no reason to assume that they're ever going to experience the world like we do. We can program them that way, but then you just end up with a machine 'pretending' to be conscious.

I'm not saying machines can't be conscious, just that their consciousness will be (or already is) entirely different from ours and they can only measure it against their own unique standards, it's pointless to do it with ours.