Meaning of Consciousness and Whether a Machine Can Have It

Singh1
Baljinder singh
Warren bowen
Philosophy100
12 April 2019
MEANING OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND WHETHER A MACHINE CAN HAVE IT
The question of whether machines can have consciousness is a controversial question
because many researchers have different views on the meaning and how consciousness should be
used in a machine. As for me, I strongly believe that in future machines will have consciousness.
This is because of the recent development in technology. This paper gives the true meaning of
consciousness. It also discusses whether a machine is capable of having a consciousness. My
argument is based on the Churchland reading and the readings of other researchers. The readings
used are ‘’Matter and Consciousness’’ and ‘’Introduction to Artificial Intelligence.’’. I will also
use the work of other researchers to support my arguments. The main purpose of this paper is to
find out whether a machine can have a consciousness.
Consciousness refers to the quality or state of being aware of the environment and
oneself. It is linked to responsiveness wakefulness as well as arousal. It can also be defined as
the ability to feel or to experience, subjectivity, awareness, having a sense of selfhood,
wakefulness, as well as an executive-control system of our mind.
According to Churchland reading, Self-Consciousness refers to the process of knowing
oneself. It involves knowing an individual’s physical states and mental states (Churchland 120).
Therefore, we can say that consciousness is everything that individual experience. The conscious
experiences of an individual are continually changing and shifting. For instance, at one time they
may put their focus on watching movies. Their consciousness may then turn to another thing.

Singh1
Philosophers as from the time of Descartes have tried to understand the true nature of
consciousness as well as pin down its essential properties. During this time, most of the
Philosophers disagree on the nature of consciousness. Rene Descartes was the first and most
essential philosopher to talk about this conundrum, and his response was named as Cartesian
dualism Rene explained that Consciousness resides within res cogitans (an immature domain), in
contrast to the realm of res extensa. He argued that the two domains interact inside the brain.
Rene Descartes further alleged that the pineal gland is the point of interaction.
Tuning used Video games to explain whether a machine can think. He argued that a
machine is an apparatus that can perform anything that human beings can do (Turing 442).
According to Epstein argued that the quick pace at which the neural network develop is an
indication that humans are about to create a general Al, a computer that will be better than
humans in all tasks that they will be doing (Epstein 6) But the creation of a general Al will raise
several questions of whether the machines can be conscious in a similar way the humans are
aware. Some researchers argue that it is possible for a human to create artificial consciousness by
examining those architectures that enable the brain of a human being to create consciousness and
then transmitting those insights into algorithms of the computer. The researchers argued that if
computers could copy the neural structures of human algorithmically, then it may lead to
artificial consciousness.
As for me, I agree with the arguments of the researchers such as Churchland that support
that a machine can be conscious. His case from the point of Analogy accepts the psycho-
behavioral connections between humans (Churchland 113). This is because currently, devices
can write songs and poems, but some researchers like Jefferson would still not grant that