A.I.: Human?

I have puzzled in this blog before about artificial intelligence. Is there A.I. that is conscious? I guess that depends on how we define consciousness. If we simply mean awareness of and responsiveness to surroundings, then maybe we have A.I. that is conscious, but that depends on what it means to be aware. If awareness is only perception at its most basic level, then we do have A.I. that qualifies…..I think. Or is it all just imitation? Do we have a machine that has a higher potential than facilitated by its programming? Of course, determinists say that humans are programmed and always function according to cause and effect with no freedom to vary from the pre-determined path, and if that were true, we would need no such machine for it to be conscious. 

I confess that I am groping for understanding of how we humans differ from A.I., a pursuit made more difficult by the sometimes obscure nature of what and who we really are. Science has not been able to explain consciousness. Some have sought to explain consciousness in terms of chemical and physical processes. The randomness of free choice is not explained by any of that. I am convinced that our brains are only a part of the process. There is a spiritual component --- an energy if you like --- a process related to another dimension. I do not think consciousness can be explained any other way.

Animals have consciousness also. There was a recent article in Atlantic about that. I suggest it as a read. I think that animal consciousness is only explainable in the same terms as our own, and I do not think that machines possess it: I define consciousness differently that I did above, although I cannot tell you how. I just think consciousness is more than how I defined it.

We look for awareness to be manifested in seeming randomness of behavior. Some makers of A.I. build randomness into their A.I. operations to simulate intelligence. I think doing that just introduces inefficiencies into the process. But did you notice? I started off with conscientiousness and am now writing about intelligence as though they are the same thing. Yeah, I am confused.