Alexander College PHIL100 Essay: Meaning of Consciousness in Machines

This essay, written for a PHIL100 course at Alexander College, delves into the complex question of whether machines can achieve consciousness. The author defines consciousness as awareness of the environment and oneself, referencing Churchland's work on self-consciousness. The paper examines the views of philosophers like Descartes and the Turing test, exploring arguments for and against machine consciousness. The author agrees with researchers who believe machines can be conscious, citing advancements in technology, and argues that machines with self-monitoring and global availability features would exhibit consciousness. The essay concludes by reiterating the key arguments and the ongoing debate surrounding consciousness in both humans and machines, drawing upon the readings of Churchland, Turing, and Epstein.

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

Singh1
Machines are conscious. Neuroscientists argued that conscious machines would have the
following dimensions: self- monitoring and global availability.
Global monitoring is the relationship between the brain and a particular object of thought.
A machine is considered conscious if the entire system has a purpose of view that is globally
accepted. The second feature is known as self-monitoring. It states that a conscious machine
should obtain relevant information about itself. However, the two elements are not enough for
consciousness, but most of the researchers claim that they are compulsory.
Many researchers argue that a machine that is consciousness can be easily created when
there is enough powerful hardware as well as necessary software. This means that if there can be
an improvement in technology, then the creation of consciousness in Computers will be possible.
Today, machines that possess self-monitoring and global availability features would behave like
they are conscious. For example, they would express confidence in what they are doing, and they
would experience the perceptual illusions like the one experienced by humans.
According to the arguments presented by these researchers, I agree that machines can be
consciousness. This is because human beings are capable of creating genetically modified
organisms which are the example of a device. The only thing that human being can do is to
ensure that the neuron structure of the machines resembles that of human beings.
Conclusion
This paper discussed the issues that deal with Consciousness both in Human being and
machines. From the readings, we found out that Consciousness is the state or quality of being
aware of something within oneself or an external object, such as feelings, thoughts, sensations, or
memories. There are also arguments of different researchers of whether a machine can be
Conscious. The researchers argued that a computer could only be Conscious when it has two
critical features that are self- monitoring and global availability.

Singh1
Works Cited
Churchland, Paul M. Matter and consciousness. MIT press, 2013. Print
Epstein, Robert. “Introduction”. In Parsing the Turing Test: Philosophical and
Methodological Issues in the Quest for the Thinking Computer. Eds Robert Epstein, Gary
Roberts, Grace Beber. Springer, 2009. From http://tinyurl.com/yxwgwux3
Turing, A.M. “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”. Mind 49, 1950, 433-460. From
https://www.csee.umbc.edu/courses/471/papers/turing.pdf Accessed April 2, 2019.