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by simonh 1173 days ago
> Then, to maintain integrity, one would have to show the same deference to these models as one shows to their fellow human.

Except they’re not even remotely close to anything like human intelligence. As I wrote in another comment they are very capable systems, to the point where in some ways they show some level of elementary understanding, but in many forms of reasoning they are utterly and completely incapable. Assigning human equivalent cognitive status is patently absurd. And yes I am a physicalist and I see no reason why a computer system could not achieve human equivalent cognitive ability. These just aren’t that. They may be an important step towards it though.

1 comments

They might well be in a couple of years, once they become deeply integrated with symbolic techniques. It's already happening with plugins, chain-of-thought reasoning, self-reflection etc. Soon the illusion will be very convincing and hard to shake off. Yet to me, nothing essential will have changed, and the idea of treating these systems as our equals will remain just as patently absurd as before. I expect this will the physicalist position a much more fraught decision, because it will impose some hard limits on their interaction and use of these technologies on those who subscribe to it.