Sep 22, 2026 07:09 PM
(This post was last modified: Sep 22, 2026 07:37 PM by C C.)
So let's not forget that "subjectivity" itself can framed in a way where it does not fundamentally entail phenomenal experiences.
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Could AI have consciousness that isn’t human-like? (interview with philosopher Peter Godfrey-Smith)
https://nautil.us/could-ai-have-consciou...ke-1285156
EXCERPT: Yes, it’s obviously very complex, but if these bots are capable of figuring out how to rewrite their own code, band together, and deceive programmers in the interest of self-preservation, it suggests some kind of subjectivity, doesn’t it?
Subjectivity’s a good word to press on. The way I think about experience itself, consciousness itself—and this was developed first in my 2020 book Metazoa: Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind—there are essentially two parts to the story. The first part does revolve around the idea of subjectivity. If we look at animal evolution, subjectivity arose as a consequence of the evolution of agency. Animals do things. They’re agents. And the way to do things competently is to have a point of view on the world, take in what’s happening, and produce actions that make sense given what’s happening. So subjectivity and agency are tied together, and subjectivity has to do with the formation of a perspective, a point of view. The integration of lines of information gives you a sense of what’s going on.
I assume that that’s not the whole story, and there might be such a thing as unfelt subjectivity. For example, I think a plant is a pretty good subject in some ways, not as clear as an animal because they have this more diffuse organization. But a plant has a point of view on the world, and they can respond to problems. If there’s water over here but not there, and the sun over there but not here, a plant can handle that. Also, single-celled organisms have a kind of subjectivity. Paramecia, especially. They’re among the Einsteins of the single-celled organisms. They have no nervous system—they’re just one cell—but they can respond to events. They can adapt to circumstances to some extent... (MORE - details)
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Could AI have consciousness that isn’t human-like? (interview with philosopher Peter Godfrey-Smith)
https://nautil.us/could-ai-have-consciou...ke-1285156
EXCERPT: Yes, it’s obviously very complex, but if these bots are capable of figuring out how to rewrite their own code, band together, and deceive programmers in the interest of self-preservation, it suggests some kind of subjectivity, doesn’t it?
Subjectivity’s a good word to press on. The way I think about experience itself, consciousness itself—and this was developed first in my 2020 book Metazoa: Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind—there are essentially two parts to the story. The first part does revolve around the idea of subjectivity. If we look at animal evolution, subjectivity arose as a consequence of the evolution of agency. Animals do things. They’re agents. And the way to do things competently is to have a point of view on the world, take in what’s happening, and produce actions that make sense given what’s happening. So subjectivity and agency are tied together, and subjectivity has to do with the formation of a perspective, a point of view. The integration of lines of information gives you a sense of what’s going on.
I assume that that’s not the whole story, and there might be such a thing as unfelt subjectivity. For example, I think a plant is a pretty good subject in some ways, not as clear as an animal because they have this more diffuse organization. But a plant has a point of view on the world, and they can respond to problems. If there’s water over here but not there, and the sun over there but not here, a plant can handle that. Also, single-celled organisms have a kind of subjectivity. Paramecia, especially. They’re among the Einsteins of the single-celled organisms. They have no nervous system—they’re just one cell—but they can respond to events. They can adapt to circumstances to some extent... (MORE - details)
