I'd really like to hear the feedback from those in AI-complete or cognitive science research about Blindsight and especially Watts' notes [1], and if we could implement "merely" sentient AI with no consciousness, or if sentience backed by human-capacity reasoning and learning somehow lead to sapience. Because Watts makes an effective argument with his copious bibliography that "only" sentience can Accomplish A Hell Of A Lot.
Could a "merely" sentient software-driven but not conscious/self-aware robot be built that washes my dishes / cutlery and puts them away, keeps my permaculture garden tended/weeded, separates recyclables, washes, hang dries when feasible / conventional-dries when not, folds, puts away clothes / towels / fabric products, dusts, vacuums, puts away clutter, etc.?
Yes, I don't think anyone in AI research believes human-style self-awareness is needed for those tasks. Well, putting away clutter might be tricky, just in getting human definitions of "put away". Most of the rest of them are just high-level pattern matching.
I think consciousness is worthwhile for communicating useful thought patterns to your peers. This is consistent with the modern perspective that "consciousness is just stories you tell yourself" and even the Watts perspective that it's inefficient. Those stories about yourself are in fact useful if they make your tribemates more effective, and (as anyone knows who has thought about communication overhead in a large organization) the individual inefficiency is offset by the power to harness a hundred or a million individuals to the same task.
> Could a "merely" sentient software-driven but not conscious/self-aware robot be built that washes my dishes / cutlery and puts them away, keeps my permaculture garden tended/weeded, separates recyclables, washes, hang dries when feasible / conventional-dries when not, folds, puts away clothes / towels / fabric products, dusts, vacuums, puts away clutter, etc.?
Probably. It could also probably convincingly portray itself as conscious if set to that task, for versimilitude's sake. Whether it is set to that task will probably depend on whether that seems to be the shortest path out of the uncanny valley.
At which point... I'm not sure there is any difference left worth talking about.
Could a "merely" sentient software-driven but not conscious/self-aware robot be built that washes my dishes / cutlery and puts them away, keeps my permaculture garden tended/weeded, separates recyclables, washes, hang dries when feasible / conventional-dries when not, folds, puts away clothes / towels / fabric products, dusts, vacuums, puts away clutter, etc.?
[1] https://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm#Notes