
Here’s How We’ll Know an AI Is Conscious - J253
http://m.nautil.us/blog/heres-how-well-know-an-ai-is-conscious
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eesmith
That seemed less than useful.

What do _people_ answer when asked the question "what if my red is your blue?"

If any of them answer "That is impossible, red, green, and blue each exist as
different wavelengths" then do we assume that they are not conscious? Or that
the person has no visual qualia?

(Technically, the argument is "an AI lacking any visual qualia might respond
with" so I'm committing logical fallacy. However, if many people with visual
qualia give an answer that is consistent with what's assumed to be a lack of
visual qualia then that answer is not diagnostic about the existence of visual
qualia.)

Furthermore, color names are tied to culture.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_term#Cultural_difference...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_term#Cultural_differences)

Some languages don't have a word for green. For example, quoting from
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himba_people#Color_perception](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himba_people#Color_perception)
"The OvaHimba use four colour names: zuzu stands for dark shades of blue, red,
green and purple; vapa is white and some shades of yellow; buru is some shades
of green and blue; and dambu is some other shades of green, red and brown."

How do you even ask a question like “Could there be a color greener than
green?” to someone from a culture which doesn't have color terms? Quoting
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirah%C3%A3_language#Color_ter...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirah%C3%A3_language#Color_terms)
"There is also a claim that Pirahã lacks any unique color terminology, being
one of the few cultures (mostly in the Amazon basin and New Guinea) that only
have specific words for light and dark."

Does that make them any less conscious?

Finally, are any animals other than humans conscious? This argument seems to
be that we can't tell if anything is conscious unless it speaks a human
language.

