Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 36, No. 74.
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        Date: 2022-06-22 06:14:44+00:00
        From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@mccarty.org.uk>
        Subject: sentience

In the context of the book I recommended recently, Ginsburg, Jablonka
and Zeligkowski, Picturing the Mind (2022), the following will be of
interest. I for one am inclined to back away from the high-octane
speculations of AI, or as the author of the first article below says,
"the AI-hype machine, which, like everything in Silicon Valley,
oversells itself", but the questions raised by the technology need 
the attention of those who probe them. This is us, yes? So, to the
readings:

Stephen Marche, "Artificial consciousness is boring: The reality of AI
is something harder to comprehend", The Atlantic (June 2022),
<https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/06/google-palm-ai-
artificial-consciousness/661329/>

David Kordahl, "Exorcising a new machine", 3 Quarks Daily (23 June
2022),
<https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2022/06/exorcising-a-new-machine.html>

Bill Benzon, "Welcome to the Fourth Arena--The world is gifted", 3
Quarks Daily (22 June 2022)
<https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2022/06/welcome-to-the-fourth-arena-the-
world-is-gifted.html>

Responses welcome, as always.

Yours,
WM
--
Willard McCarty,
Professor emeritus, King's College London;
Editor, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews;  Humanist
www.mccarty.org.uk


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