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Of Mills And Machines - Computing Thought Experiments On Consciousness, Aïda Raoult

Aïda Raoult

In this computing-oriented analysis, 5 of the most influential thought experiments on consciousness inspired by the development of A.I. in the 70s-80s are (1) presented as more refined versions of Leibniz’s mill (LM), (2) then reformulated in terms of LM which reveals a divergence in their approach of the mind-body problem; (3) combining this result with computational complexity theory shows the ontological question is less difficult to answer than the causal one. In the end, (4) these considerations participate in the debate over machine consciousness.