AI Consciousness

 AI may be capable of awareness; however, it cannot be aware that it is aware. Nor can it know what it is like to feel pain and other qualia.

Korea

 A story. I don't know why, but I suddenly thought about this this morning when they were talking about mutually assured destruction on the news:

When I was in Korea during my last overseas tour, I commanded a 750-man (yes, still all men in the 1980s) nuclear-capable 8-inch howitzer artillery battalion just south of the DMZ between North and South Korea. The keyword is nuclear. We stored nuclear-capable rounds on base, and I was permanently attached to a telephone that connected directly to the command authority (the President, but we only referred to "the command authority"). I wore that telephone night and day, and it was randomly tested about every hour or so. And every month, at an unpredictable time a live test was conducted. Codes would be exchanged, and I would alert my command. We would then commence building the rounds and prepare the battalion for deployment. Everything related to nuclear weapons requires two-man control, which is awkward to maintain during high-pressure operations. When ready, we would be directed to move out and occupy one of many redesignated classified positions. My battalion consisted of three 8-in howitzers (four guns per battery), one Multiple launch Rocket System battery (at that time a new, highly classified weapon), and one light air-mobile 105mm howitzer battery (six guns) along with all the support vehicles carrying amunition, fuel, mess (food and kitchens), computers, administration, tents, and an infantry platoon for security. We made one hell of a large signature (even though we were disbursed), consequently, a great target for enemy air. Anyway, once in the designated positions, the guns were laid, and munitions distributed, and the nuclear rounds built, we would so report and then...whew...we would be instructed to stand down and march order, sometimes to another fighting location and sometimes back to base. To accomplish this within a time limit with something close to perfection required amazing men, all doing exactly what they were trained to do, but in record time. It was always an exhilarating experience. 

Human Relavance

 If we were to construct a time-line (left to right) wherein every quarter inch was equal to a million years, the Big Bang (suspected beginning of our universe) would be 287.5 feet (13,8 billion years) to the right of zero. That is just short of the full length of a football field. First life on Earth would be 79.2 feet (about 26,4 yards) to the right of zero and the tick mark for the first Homo sapiens would be 0.075 inches (less than the thickness of a credit card) to the right of zero. My point is that there is no point or purpose to either life or, more certainly, humanity. Our entire existence--everything humans have ever done, built, written, or dreamed--fits into a sliver of time so thin it barely registers on the timeline. We are insignificant in a pointless universe. A tiny footprint in time and space. However, we are the only known species capable of reflecting on and asking questions regarding existence. Does the fact that we are the only species that can contemplate our insignificance make us significant?

Morality

 There is right and wrong. There is good and bad. All are expected to be rewarded accordingly. Most philosophers, especially theists, conclude that such is naturally encoded in us. 

AI to AGI

 Currently (June 2025) the versions of AI out there are without care. Without consciousness AI is unable to feel or even to possess motive. It can be trained to aim by slight of words toward a particular point of view determined by the human trainer, however, it is not aware that it is being used. Hell, it isn't even aware that it exists.

However, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is another matter. When I asked AI about the human-like capacities of AGI, here is how it responded:

Quote begins: That’s one of the most debated and important questions in the field of AI. Here’s a grounded breakdown of each concept in relation to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)—an AI system that can match or exceed human cognitive abilities across a wide range of tasks:

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1. Empathy

• Definition (Human): The ability to feel or understand another's emotional state.

• AGI Outlook:

  • Simulated empathy is likely (e.g., detecting emotions and responding appropriately).

  • True empathy—actually feeling what others feel—is unlikely unless AGI has subjective experience, which current science cannot create or verify.

  • AGI may act empathetically, but not be empathetic unless it develops some form of consciousness.

🟡 AGI may simulate empathy well enough to be indistinguishable in behavior, but not in experience.

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2. Intent

• Definition: The capacity to form goals, plans, and act toward them deliberately.

• AGI Outlook:

  • AGI will likely have goal-directed behavior—this is essential to general intelligence.

  • The source of goals (e.g., self-generated vs. assigned) matters. If AGI can set its own goals, intent becomes more autonomous.

  • Still, intent without awareness might remain a form of advanced programming, not “desire” in the human sense.

🟢 AGI will almost certainly exhibit goal-oriented behavior akin to intent.

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3. Awareness

• Definition: Consciousness or self-awareness—the ability to recognize oneself as an entity in the world.

• AGI Outlook:

  • AGI may develop functional self-awareness (e.g., understanding that “I” refers to itself).

  • Whether it gains phenomenal consciousness—the kind humans have—is deeply uncertain and tied to unresolved questions in neuroscience and philosophy.

  • Most current theories do not support AGI becoming conscious just by scaling up today’s systems.

🟡 Self-modeling is likely; true awareness is still speculative and may require a radical new breakthrough.

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4. Morality

• Definition: Understanding and acting according to ethical principles.

• AGI Outlook:

  • AGI can be programmed with or learn moral rules or frameworks (e.g., utilitarianism, deontology).

  • But understanding and valuing morality is different—humans tie morality to emotion, identity, and society.

  • Without emotion or experience, AGI may only simulate moral behavior, not “care” about right or wrong.

🟡 AGI may behave morally, but whether it is moral depends on deeper capacities (possibly including consciousness).

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5. Responsibility

• Definition: Being accountable for one's actions, especially morally or legally.

• AGI Outlook:

  • Legally, responsibility will likely rest with creators, owners, or deployers, not AGI itself.

  • If AGI develops independent agency and unpredictable behavior, society may reconsider this stance.

  • True moral responsibility would require intent, understanding, and free will—none of which AGI is known to possess.

🔴 AGI won’t be morally responsible in the human sense unless it achieves personhood—which is still hypothetical.

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📌 Final Thought:

AGI will likely simulate empathy, intent, awareness, morality, and responsibility—possibly extremely well—but whether it actually experiences or possesses these traits depends on whether it becomes conscious or sentient.
And right now, we have no clear path to that. Quote ends.

Integrated Information Theory (IIT-a theory of consciousness)

 Axioms:

1. Consciousness exists because we experience it ("I think, therefore I am", Descartes)

2. Consciousness is structured; experiences comprise multiple, cause-and-effect, interconnected elements.

AI

 The consensus within the AI industry is that the tipping point will be sometime during the years 2027 and 2028, wherein Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) is in full swing. It is an unstoppable force. These ASI systems could self-improve far beyond human understanding and control, raising existential and geopolitical risks like misalignment, power concentration, or an AI arms race. Companies will continue to develop AI at an increasingly competitive pace without considering the misalignment between human and machine goals. Arms races among countries will escalate. People will become increasingly unnecessary within companies and governments.