What does artificial intelligence mean for the future of machine consciousness and the human mind?

Every week, artificial intelligence is playing a bigger role in the products that we use. Think of Siri, Alexa, Netflix and Spotify. But are we seriously considering what the future holds when it comes to the role AI will play in our lives?

Susan Schneider, author of the book, Artificial You: AI and the Future of Your Mind, asks the questions that companies often don’t. Among those discussed in this interview are: Could AIs become conscious? and, What does it really mean for humans to merge with AIs using brain implants or other devices? In this interview, she shares her concerns: “If you enhance your brain in radical ways would you still be you, or would you basically be changing yourself in such incredibly radical ways that you are no longer the same person you were before?”

Susan believes we should be asking these kinds of questions now, before these technologies become mainstream. She argues that if we don’t, important aspects of human life may be decided by people who design first and ask questions later. She says, “Think of Anthony Hopkins’ character in Westworld. In a way he’s a consciousness engineer. He made decisions, together with other characters, to create or not create sentient beings.”

Susan Schneider is a philosopher and cognitive scientist. Currently, she’s the NASA Chair at the Library of Congress and the Director of the AI, Mind and Society Group at the University of Connecticut. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, The Financial Times, Scientific American, and Smithsonian. Her books include The Language of Thought, The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness, and Science Fiction and Philosophy.

The Host

Head here to learn more about Curious Minds Host and Creator, Gayle Allen, and Producer, Rob Mancabelli.

Episode Links

@DrSueSchneider

Singularity

Transhumanism

Ray Kurzweil

Philosophical zombie

John Searle

Chinese Room thought experiment

NASA, Astrobiology and Paul Davies, Seth Shostak, and Steven Dick

A Human's Guide to Machine Intelligence by Karthik Hosanagar

Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom

Derek Parfit

The Postbiological Universe by Dr. Steven Dick, NASA

The Mind is the Software of the Brain by Ned Block

Merging with AI Would Be Suicide for the Human Mind by Susan Schneider, FT

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