Well no, of course merely being connected to a conscious system is not going to do anything, it’s not magic. The conscious system would have to interact with the laptop in a way that’s directly or indirectly related to its being conscious to get an observable difference.
For comparison, think of those scenario’s where you’re perfectly aware of what’s going on, but you can’t seem to control your body. In this case you are conscious but your being conscious is not affecting your actions. Consciousness performs a meaningful role but it’s mere existence isn’t going to do anything.
In each case, you can think of the supercomputing cluster as an entity that is talking to you through the laptop. For example, I am an entity who is talking to you through your computer, right now; and I am conscious (or so I claim, anyway). Google Maps is another such entity, and it is not conscious(as far as anyone knows).
So, the entity talking to you through the Dell laptop is conscious. The one talking through the Lenovo is not; but it has been designed to mimic consciousness as closely as possible (unlike, say, Google Maps). Given this knowledge, can you predict any specific differences in behavior between the two entities ?
Again no, a computer being conscious does not necessitate it acting differently. You could add a ‘consciousness routine’ without any of the output changing, As far as I can tell. But if you were to ask the computer to act in some way that requires consciousness, say by improving it’s own code, then I imagine you could tell the difference.
Ok, so your prediction is that the Dell cluster will be able to improve its own code, whereas the Lenovo will not. But I’m not sure if that’s true. After all, I am conscious, and yet if you asked me to improve my own code, I couldn’t do it.
Well no, of course merely being connected to a conscious system is not going to do anything, it’s not magic. The conscious system would have to interact with the laptop in a way that’s directly or indirectly related to its being conscious to get an observable difference.
For comparison, think of those scenario’s where you’re perfectly aware of what’s going on, but you can’t seem to control your body. In this case you are conscious but your being conscious is not affecting your actions. Consciousness performs a meaningful role but it’s mere existence isn’t going to do anything.
Sorry if this still doesn’t answer your question.
That does not, in fact, answer my question :-(
In each case, you can think of the supercomputing cluster as an entity that is talking to you through the laptop. For example, I am an entity who is talking to you through your computer, right now; and I am conscious (or so I claim, anyway). Google Maps is another such entity, and it is not conscious(as far as anyone knows).
So, the entity talking to you through the Dell laptop is conscious. The one talking through the Lenovo is not; but it has been designed to mimic consciousness as closely as possible (unlike, say, Google Maps). Given this knowledge, can you predict any specific differences in behavior between the two entities ?
Again no, a computer being conscious does not necessitate it acting differently. You could add a ‘consciousness routine’ without any of the output changing, As far as I can tell. But if you were to ask the computer to act in some way that requires consciousness, say by improving it’s own code, then I imagine you could tell the difference.
Ok, so your prediction is that the Dell cluster will be able to improve its own code, whereas the Lenovo will not. But I’m not sure if that’s true. After all, I am conscious, and yet if you asked me to improve my own code, I couldn’t do it.
Maybe not, but you can upgrade your own programs. You can improve your “rationality” program, your “cooking” program, et cetera.
Yes, I can learn to a certain extent, but so can Pandora (the music-matching problem); IMO that’s not much of a yardstick.