A.I. and the Question of Consciousness

Although many might watch this movie and come believe that A.I. could be conscious living beings just like humans, I believe they would be wrong. In fact, I think that the movie shows that machines cannot be conscious living beings, even when they appear to be. In the movie, David appears on the surface to be a machine that is unique. He is able to express love and deep emotion- a trait that only humans are thought to possess. However I think that this is only due to a programmed set of responses from programmed internal mechanisms. David appears to be conscious, but he is only programmed to appear conscious. David has no internal knowledge of himself and how others around him think and act. He almost drowns his brother in the pool because he does not understand the concepts involved in the complex interactions between people. He does not understand that he is drowning his brother. Another example is his misunderstanding of the eating process. He almost shuts himself down, because he does not understand that he cannot eat food like humans.

On the surface, his behavior suggest that David is conscious, but he is missing the human factor. He is missing a truly human conscious factor. Each of his behaviors and responses are merely programmed responses. Even David's "love" for his mother can be traced back to an internal program of behavior to ensure he would be a good "son". Many people would take his seemingly undying "love" for his mother, and other examples as proof that he is conscious and living, but I believe they help prove the opposite. I agree with Searle and think that "matter matters". I think that in order for something to be conscious it must not only have the right structure and organization, but also be made out of the right stuff. David in my opinion is not made of that "right" stuff. There is more to consciousness than superficial behaviors. Behaviors can appear to show consciousness, but there is also a certain sense of understanding and conceptual relationships that must go along with those behaviors. Behaviors can be programmed, but consciousness is not so simple.