It’s very hard for me to imagine half a quale. Perhaps this is a failure of imagination?
How do we detect even quantitative levels of consciousness? Surely it’s not enough to just have processing power; you must actually be doing the right sort of thing (computations, behaviors, chemical reactions, something). But then… are our computers conscious, even a little bit? If so, does this change our moral relationship to them? If not, how do we know that?
I think that’s right.
Yet, two things:
It’s very hard for me to imagine half a quale. Perhaps this is a failure of imagination?
How do we detect even quantitative levels of consciousness? Surely it’s not enough to just have processing power; you must actually be doing the right sort of thing (computations, behaviors, chemical reactions, something). But then… are our computers conscious, even a little bit? If so, does this change our moral relationship to them? If not, how do we know that?