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Are LLMs conscious? Some people are loudly insisting that the correct response is "They might be! We don't know." I think it's better to say: We have no evidence that they are.

11/10/26, 6:38 am1 repost3 likes

Greg Gates

@gregat.es

We have evidence that humans are conscious. We have each experienced it! We know what it's like to be conscious, and that being unconscious is different. This is where the whole idea of consciousness comes from.

Greg Gates

@gregat.es

Famously, each of us only has this kind of direct evidence of our own consciousness. This is known in philosophy as the problem of other minds. But that doesn't mean we have no evidence that other people are conscious.

Greg Gates

@gregat.es

What is that evidence? Well, we know that other people are like ourselves in many ways. And when I speak about my own consciousness, I do so from experience, as a way of trying to describe that experience. It is reasonable to think other humans are doing the same.

Greg Gates

@gregat.es

So other people's claims about their own conscious experience are evidence of their consciousness. It's not certain, but it's reasonable to believe that their conscious experience is similar to mine, just as many other things about them are similar to me.