@mattsheffield@mastodon.social
2026-10-21 22:45 UTC
Given that no machine with recursive selfhood has been demonstrated to exist, the burden of proof for chatbot consciousness rests upon its advocates--not on their opponents.
And the proponents' claims are extremely weak.
Replies (1)
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@mattsheffield@mastodon.social 2026-10-21 22:46
Not only are the evidentiary grounds insufficient to claim chatbots are conscious, proponents must address the ELIZA Effect and the copious evidence that humans did not evolve similar psychological detection mechanisms against linguistic simulacra that we have toward visual and aural imitation. The authors do briefly present on this point, but I think challenging chatbot consciousness believers' evidence must be the core of the rebuttal rather than promoting a consciousness framework.