[rnk]

A llm can write a program to compute factorial or whatever, but that doesn't mean it has consciousness. Same for writing a poem about any topic. It is of course also not evidence of no consciousness. We just don't know but the likely-hood seems low.

For whales or even dogs or great apes, I think the chances are much higher, but we just don't know. We can't even agree on a definition for what consciousness is.

[geraldwhen]

What does it matter if they’re conscious if they’re dumb?

Just because a consciousness exists staring out of a pair of eyes doesn’t change any ethics if that consciousness is exceptionally limited.

[rnk]

I thought about this for a few days. I eat meat, animal products like milk too. I feel some guilt about it, an animal died to get me this chicken sandwich. We'll face decisions about whether to continue ending the consciousness of animals to feed ourselves when we have alternatives. I'm far from the first person to think of this, but when we have some machine consciousness that compares to a chicken (I don't know how to measure consciousness but we'll face that one day), will there be a common understanding of what it means morally to be ending that consciousness?

I think one day we'll probably almost completely stop killing "intelligent" animals (in 100s of years after we develop safe and tasty alternatives). What about a software consciousness? I don't know. What about if we are able to "upload" our consciousness, will it have civil rights? Probably not at first.