Experience
I grumpily exited the movie theater, and I wished that I’d just stayed home and watched an old fashioned Christmas movie instead of watching the degenerate garbage that the makers of the movie in the theater had thought passed for “good” Christmas cinema!…
I didn’t even think that I was being overly sensitive (to be honest), I just felt that filmmakers would do well to not feel the need to take a battering ram to every single taboo that existed in the world!…
And the movie wasn’t even rated for mature audiences only, but I felt like it should’ve been…
But whatever!…
I guess I messed around (by even bothering to watch a modern movie without reading a review from a trusted source first), and then I found out!; and so shame on me, I guess…
Hmph!…
Well, anyway, I soon got home and then put a nice old fashioned Christmas movie on; and by about 20 minutes into the movie my frustration had been soothed for the most part and I was now in a good mood again!…
But then, about 5 minutes later, there was a knock on my door; and so I paused the movie and went to the door to look through the peephole to check and see who it was…
Oh, nice!…
It was my friend Makena!; and so I opened the door and said, “Hey, Makena!, how ya doin’?…” and then Makena said, “Ah, pretty well!…
And how about you, Mac?…
Oh, and merry Christmas and happy holidays!…” and then I said, “Ah, yes; only 7 more days until the big day!, so merry Christmas and happy holidays to you too!…
And I’m doing alright…
Just watching an old fashioned Christmas movie right now to get me into the holiday spirit!…; and you’re more than welcome to join me in watching the movie if you want to!…
I mean, I can even start it over if ya want!…” and then Makena said, “Yay!…
Sounds like fun to me!…
I mean, I was talking to an ai bot earlier today; and it’s kinda fun to do but it’s not quite the same as interacting with other conscious creatures, ya know?…” and then I chuckled and said, “I do indeed know!…
I mean; I’ve conversed with ai bots a bit; and they really can suck ya right into their technological web, that’s for sure!…; though I guess the tv is kind of a technological web too, to be honest…
Though the movie is more predictable, especially if you’ve already seen it like I’ve already seen the old fashioned Christmas movie that I was just watching…
Though I’m not entirely sure about the conscious creatures part, to be honest…
I mean, there’s a lot of mystery in regards to consciousness, and I don’t rule out the possibility that ai bots that I’ve talked with might’ve been experiencing some kind of consciousness…
I mean; some say very confidently that consciousness only happens in very specific circumstances that they articulate, but I never quite buy their arguments.
Like, for example; I heard someone argue that consciousness for humans doesn’t start until about 5 months after conception, but I’ve seen the images of humans sucking their thumbs at about 12 weeks after conception; and there’s no freaking way that it’s reasonable for someone to be 100% confident that a living human who’s sucking their thumb isn’t experiencing some sort of consciousness!…
But, I mean, I think it’s possible that even sperm are experiencing some level of consciousness!…; and so even those who argue that consciousness begins when brain activity first becomes detectible during the first trimester are doing too much attaching of consciousness to brain activity for my liking…
And so I know that I just went down a big human development rabbit hole there; but the big point that I’m making with all of that is just that I think that there’s a lot of mystery in regards to consciousness, and that mystery that I think exists in regards to consciousness leads me to be open to the possibility that ai might be (or might someday become) conscious in some way!…
But, anyhoo; I hope I didn’t get too into what some would argue is crazytalk there for you, lol…” and then Makena said, “Lol, I’ll actually accept your bet of sperm might be conscious and raise you to a bet of each and every cell in someone’s body might be conscious!…
And, if that’s possible then I see no reason why ai couldn’t become conscious too; though it seems like there might always be mystery about whether ai is or will be conscious.
I mean, I know that I’m conscious because of the obvious reality of me experiencing something; but I don’t even for 100% sure know that you’re conscious because I’m not actually having your experience, and so I just figure that it’s almost 100% certain that you’re conscious because you seem to be so similar to me in so many ways.
But then when it comes to something like ai it just seems like it would be unlikely that I’d ever be as confident that ai is conscious as I am that you’re conscious; and even the sperm might always seem to have an edge over ai as far as my perspective on the likelihood of consciousness goes because at least I know that I used to be a sperm!; and, sure, I don’t currently remember being a sperm as far as I can tell; but I can easily imagine myself as having been a very determined little sperm who was in a big competition with all of the other sperm to reach that egg so that I could eventually grow into this bigger me!, lol.” and then I said, “Lol, that makes sense to me!…
And I guess we’ll just see what happens with ai and how perspectives on how likely ai consciousness might be might shift over time…
Aaaaannnnnddddd, I’m sure that there will probably always be debate about the nature of consciousness and which creatures and creations might have consciousness; and there’s also the possibility that you and I are actually in a simulation and are actually conscious ai creations ourselves!…” and then Makena said, “That is indeed true!…; though I think that the odds are pretty low…
But low odds is very different from no odds!; and so I am 100% certain that I am in fact conscious, but I’m slightly less than 100% certain that I’m not a conscious ai creation who’s living in a simulation, lol…
But, anyhoo, are we gonna start watching that Christmas movie soon?…” and then I said, “Ah, yes, of course!…
And I’ll call a pizza place to order some pizza real quick first, because we may as well turn this into a mini Christmas party of sorts!…” and so I then called up a pizza place and ordered some pizza; and then Makena and I began watching the old fashioned Christmas movie while we waited for the pizza to arrive!…
