[pbw]

I think the argument about consciousness is vacuous. Searle admits we might create an AI which acts 100% like a human in every way.

Nothing Searle says stands in the way of creating intelligent or super-intelligent entities. All Searle is saying is those entities won't be conscious.

No can prove this claim today. But more significantly I think it's extremely likely no one will ever prove the claim. Consciousness is a private subjective experience. I think it's likely you simply cannot prove it exists or doesn't exist.

Mankind will create a human-level robots and we'll watch them think and create and love and cry and we'll simply not know what their conscious experience is.

Even if we did prove it one way or the other, the popular opinion would be unaffected.

Some big chunk of people will insist robots are conscious entities who feel pain and have rights. And some big chunk of people will insist they are not conscious.

It might be our final big debate. An abstruse proof is not going to change anyone's mind. Look at how social policies are debated today. Proof is not a factor.