The Abstraction Fallacy
I wrote this paper to address what I see as a persistent confusion in discussions of artificial intelligence and consciousness: the assumption that if a system processes information, behaves intelligently, or simulates the outward signs of conscious experience, it must therefore be conscious. My aim is to examine that assumption carefully. The paper distinguishes between computation and experience, simulation and instantiation, map and territory. It argues that computation, by itself, is not enough to explain consciousness, because computation is an abstract description of a physical process, not the process of experience itself. I hope the paper is useful to anyone trying to think more clearly about intelligence, AI, cognition and the nature of consciousness.
Below is a good visual explanation for what the paper argues:
And for those who'd like a podcast style audio for a listen, you can find it below:
