In this episode, the host explores the limits of AI and consciousness, discussing the current and potential capabilities of AI systems while dispelling common misconceptions about their ability to experience consciousness.
The ability to discern discrete objects is developed in childhood as people do not see things with the same level of fidelity until they have labels for them, akin to how culture and consciousness are based on the relationship between sound, image, and meaning.
The concept of extraterrestrial visits often assumes physical embodiment in a spacecraft. Imagining how aliens would visit raises questions on their mode of arrival and physical appearance.
The more we discover about how the human brain perceives the physical world, the more we can use that knowledge to improve AI systems to better understand both the external world and our internal selves. From the evolution of photoreceptors to the ability to engineer images using pixels, our understanding of how we perceive the world continues to evolve.
Humans have outsourced their physical perceptions to technology that has evolved to be greater than our own senses, causing an opportunity to see the universe in a totally different way. Perception technology, such as microscopes or earthquake detectors, allows us to see beyond the limits of our senses and gain a greater understanding of the world around us.