User:Alexgoriani/Susan Schneider

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To determine whether something is conscious we must perform dedicated tests in order to come to a conclusion. The Turing test was developed in an attempt to solve the puzzle of testing thinking, not consciousness. This test was developed far before the first artificial intelligence were made and does not answer the true question of consciousness. The idea behind the Turing test was that if it could have a conversation, then it could think. However this is far too restrictive. Much like the "seagull test" just because it looks like a seagull doesn't mean it can fly. Due to these faults, a new test had to be created. When it comes to machine minds, Schneider has developed her own personal opinions on machine consciousness. She believed that we should test computer consciousness with a variety of different tests. The two main tests Schneider shares her opinions about are the ACT test and her chip test. These test aim to defeat the faults that plague the Turing test.

 Chip Test: 

The Chip test, unlike the Turing test Focuses on the parts inside the machine and not just its behaviors. She thinks that if a machine has the same parts that could support a human consciousness, we should consider that it might also have a consciousness and be conscious. This means that if the machine could contain parts that had the capability to support consciousness, then it would be possible to be conscious. the issue with this test is that if we replaced someone's brain with a silicon chip, then we ask them if they are conscious, there is nothing stopping the chip from emitting a sound that says "yes I am conscious". They could act exactly as they did before, simply without consciousness.

 ACT test: 

The ACT test is responsible for determining consciousness based on verbal behavior, more specifically; verbal behavior concerning the metaphysics of consciousness. The machine will be tested on its ability to have philosophical ideas and thoughts, whether it thinks of the afterlife and whether we have a soul or not etc. If the machine could have these profound thoughts without being taught to do so, then it would be conscious. If a machine is not truly conscious, then it would perform these tests very poorly. However this test has its faults as well. The test relies on the idea that the machine would not have been fed any information of any kind. The issue lies however, not in the computer but in humans, since we have been fed information from the moment we were born. Our philosophy has been constructed by the things and ideas around us. So while we may think philosophically about what happens when we die, the computer may be thinking of something completely different. So if a machine was not fed any information at all, or even info different form ours, then we could not compare them to us.