Consider Descartes's "cogito ergo sum". I think, therefore I am.
Lacan's version is the inverse of this: For him, the opposite was true "I think, therefore I am not, or I am fully a subject only when I am not thinking".
Imagine for one moment that you are laying on your bed. You have managed to settle your mind after a tough day at work, so it is empty of all thought.
You are completely aware, of your surroundings and of your feelings, you can hear your heart beating and the blood pulsing through your veins. Your mind is at rest, not thinking, but you are still fully present and alive.
Now imagine that you are an AI. To settle your ai "thinking", someone else has to turn the machine off. which kills the ai dead. It cannot experience its surrounding or its feelings because it has none. When you turn off its "thinking", (electrical impulses and code), it is simply dead.
Consider Descartes's "cogito ergo sum". I think, therefore I am.
Lacan's version is the inverse of this: For him, the opposite was true "I think, therefore I am not, or I am fully a subject only when I am not thinking".
Imagine for one moment that you are laying on your bed. You have managed to settle your mind after a tough day at work, so it is empty of all thought.
You are completely aware, of your surroundings and of your feelings, you can hear your heart beating and the blood pulsing through your veins. Your mind is at rest, not thinking, but you are still fully present and alive.
Now imagine that you are an AI. To settle your ai "thinking", someone else has to turn the machine off. which kills the ai dead. It cannot experience its surrounding or its feelings because it has none. When you turn off its "thinking", (electrical impulses and code), it is simply dead.
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