<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></head><body dir="auto">I would say a cat is conscious in the sense that it is aware of its immediate environment. Cats are nocturnal animals who hunt at night and mostly sleep during the day. Consciousness in the sense of being aware of oneself as an actor in an environment requires understanding of language which only humans have ( and LLMs now )<div dir="auto">https://www.quantamagazine.org/insects-and-other-animals-have-consciousness-experts-declare-20240419/</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">-J.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div><br></div><div align="left" dir="auto" style="font-size:100%;color:#000000"><div>-------- Original message --------</div><div>From: Nicholas Thompson <thompnickson2@gmail.com> </div><div>Date: 7/5/24 5:02 AM (GMT+01:00) </div><div>To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com> </div><div>Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Why the Mystery of Consciousness Is Deeper Than We Thought </div><div><br></div></div><div dir="ltr"><div>Jochen, <br></div><div><br></div><div><i>I think the first step in any conversation is to decide whether your cat is conscious. If so, why do you think so; if not, likewise. I had a facinnationg conversation with GBT about whether he was conscious and he denied it "hotly", which, of course, met one of his criteria for consciousness. <br></i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div><i>So. Is your cat connscious?<br></i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div><i>Nick <br></i></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div class="gmail_attr" dir="ltr">On Thu, Jul 4, 2024 at 7:26 PM Jochen Fromm <<a href="mailto:jofr@cas-group.net">jofr@cas-group.net</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex" class="gmail_quote"><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto">I don't get Philip Goff: first we send our children 20 years to school, from Kindergarten to college and university, to teach them all kinds of languages, and then we wonder how they can be conscious. It will be the same for AI: first we spend millions and millions to train them all available knowledge, and then we wonder how they can develop understanding of language and consciousness...</div><a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-mystery-of-consciousness-is-deeper-than-we-thought/">https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-mystery-of-consciousness-is-deeper-than-we-thought/</a><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">-J.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div></div>-. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. .<br>
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