Consciousness Requires Biological Substrate
Description
Consciousness, as subjectively experienced by humans, is fundamentally dependent on biological processes and cannot emerge from non-biological systems regardless of their complexity or computational power.
Falsification Criteria
This conjecture would be falsified if: (1) A non-biological system demonstrates at least 8 of the 10 agreed-upon markers of consciousness as defined by the Institute of Consciousness Studies by 2030; (2) The system passes a modified Turing test specifically designed to evaluate consciousness markers, administered by at least 5 independent research teams; (3) The system shows measurable physiological responses analogous to those associated with subjective experience in humans (e.g., attention patterns, response to novelty); (4) Results must be reproducible across at least 3 different hardware implementations.
Bounty
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Sign inRefutations
Rational criticism and counterarguments to this conjecture
This conjecture relies on a problematic definition of consciousness. If we define consciousness functionally rather than through subjective experience, we can evaluate the potential for non-biological consciousness without requiring access to subjective states.
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