[leafee]

> conflates consciousness and intelligence and this confuses matters

I think this is an excellent point. I like your example with colors, which shows that there is a difference between seeing (i.e. experiencing) colors and producing symbols which give the impression that an entity can see colors.

I don't follow any argument that proposed that computers can be conscious but other machines (e.g. car engines) cannot. In the end, symbols don't really exist in physical reality - all that exists is physical 'stuff' - atoms, electrons, photons etc. interacting with each other. So how can we say that one ball of stuff is conscious but another is not? And why isn't all of the stuff together also conscious? Why not just admit we don't know yet?

Consciousness may be hard to define, but lets take something simpler - experience, or even more specifically - pain. I can feel pain. While I can't be 100% sure, I believe other humans feel pain as well. However I don't believe my laptop has the capacity to feel pain, irrespective of how many times and in how many languages it can say 'I feel pain'.

Perhaps the ability to experience is the defining characteristic of consciousness?