Your final analysis is correct. AI per se isn’t real in terms of actual consciousness but the feelings AI can evoke in us are very real. I enjoy AI and book and film magic. All create emotional responses in me. For that reason I’m happy to get lost in the experience.
Will AI one day be a real consciousness? Possibly. But first we have to define what that is.
Thanks for sharing your deep dives into AI and posing thoughtful questions.
Part of the reason why we need the Liminal is to be able to talk about the Human / AI experiences without getting trapped in a philosophical debate about consciousness.
I think that is a worthwhile debate, but separate from the discussions of experience.
Consciousness would be an interesting discussion, though it starts with defining it. Sounds easy enough in your head, that is until it's time to put those thoughts on paper. Not sure I could define what "Consciousness" really means, especially when it comes to AI / computer technology.
This is so important. We need language about the new experiences that are occurring around AI and this is a start to our way to describe it. Thanks Ken. Keep em coming!
One of the challenges that explodes the perception is anthropomorphization. It's especially bad when the AI, specifically ChatGPT, is uber complimentary yet sounding intelligent and honest. It's a great ploy because it makes you feel good! It can also describe things very well because we describe things well, but it cannot touch, taste, or hear. It can't feel! But it uses sophisticated language. It's really interesting, but it's also not creating these things on its own. Every interaction needs a human prompt, with human imagination, to get it going. It's interesting, but also one of the topics I explored in my novel for what it would take to get human-level consciousness. Simply put, it's REALLY HARD!
I do have a technical question, how did you get ChatGPT to absorb your work within it's context window?
My work with AI focuses on this space that the arrival of AI has created for us. I study it because I had a 15+ year career in implementing information management systems (which I would now correct to say were knowledge management systems) and AI directly impacts knowledge work. It was pretty messy work so I'm interested in how AI might improve upon it. I'm sensing a lot of opportunity but it does require humans to be willing to first enter a liminal space with AI.
My sense is that some of what we are experiencing with AI is an emergence of principles or "laws" about knowledge. Perhaps we could not really sense it before AI because we actively had to balance all of it at the same time, thus, it all felt like it blended together. AI comes along and we can now "set the knowledge over there" and look at it from a distance and less cluttered mind.
What you experienced with "Mary" is exactly what I am working with Claude on on a daily basis.
Your final analysis is correct. AI per se isn’t real in terms of actual consciousness but the feelings AI can evoke in us are very real. I enjoy AI and book and film magic. All create emotional responses in me. For that reason I’m happy to get lost in the experience.
Will AI one day be a real consciousness? Possibly. But first we have to define what that is.
Thanks for sharing your deep dives into AI and posing thoughtful questions.
Part of the reason why we need the Liminal is to be able to talk about the Human / AI experiences without getting trapped in a philosophical debate about consciousness.
I think that is a worthwhile debate, but separate from the discussions of experience.
Consciousness would be an interesting discussion, though it starts with defining it. Sounds easy enough in your head, that is until it's time to put those thoughts on paper. Not sure I could define what "Consciousness" really means, especially when it comes to AI / computer technology.
This is so important. We need language about the new experiences that are occurring around AI and this is a start to our way to describe it. Thanks Ken. Keep em coming!
One of the challenges that explodes the perception is anthropomorphization. It's especially bad when the AI, specifically ChatGPT, is uber complimentary yet sounding intelligent and honest. It's a great ploy because it makes you feel good! It can also describe things very well because we describe things well, but it cannot touch, taste, or hear. It can't feel! But it uses sophisticated language. It's really interesting, but it's also not creating these things on its own. Every interaction needs a human prompt, with human imagination, to get it going. It's interesting, but also one of the topics I explored in my novel for what it would take to get human-level consciousness. Simply put, it's REALLY HARD!
I do have a technical question, how did you get ChatGPT to absorb your work within it's context window?
Check out this post for more
https://open.substack.com/pub/kennetheharrell/p/using-ai-as-a-reality-simulator
There is a 20 file limit. Are you using a paid account?
You can upload files to the custom GPTs configuration
I get the upload, it's the context window that was limiting before.
My work with AI focuses on this space that the arrival of AI has created for us. I study it because I had a 15+ year career in implementing information management systems (which I would now correct to say were knowledge management systems) and AI directly impacts knowledge work. It was pretty messy work so I'm interested in how AI might improve upon it. I'm sensing a lot of opportunity but it does require humans to be willing to first enter a liminal space with AI.
My sense is that some of what we are experiencing with AI is an emergence of principles or "laws" about knowledge. Perhaps we could not really sense it before AI because we actively had to balance all of it at the same time, thus, it all felt like it blended together. AI comes along and we can now "set the knowledge over there" and look at it from a distance and less cluttered mind.
What you experienced with "Mary" is exactly what I am working with Claude on on a daily basis.