Well, not entirely—I support what these guys are doing, and I'm a dyed-in-the-wool dualist. If the brain creates Mind as the monists think, then certainly AI is possible. If the brain merely hosts Mind, as I and (presumably) you think, then I don't see why in principle we cannot create a computer that is also capable of hosting Mind. It is no more remarkable for a soul to incarnate in a network of simulated neurons than in a network of actual neurons.
Yes, AI researchers are almost uniformly monists whose worldview I reject foursquare. However, that doesn't mean they're all on the wrong track. Any "top down" approach—coming up with some theory of "how consciousness works" and creating a device to simulate that theory—is doomed to failure, but the "bottom up" approach described here—creating a machine indistinguishable from the human brain and seeing what happens—is very promising. If such a device worked, it would revolutionize the material world but leave metaphysics fairly untouched, since it would still be impossible to tell whether the device was creating or hosting a Mind. If the device failed, on the other hand, monism would be dealt a deadly blow. I find either prospect extremely interesting and worthy of support.
Fabozz and B-Chan, you both make interesting arguments. I tend more to B-Chan’s point of view, especially on the assertion that the AI people have never demonstrated the slightest ability to simulate consciousness, and that, in fact, no one knows what consciousness is. I part ways with B-Chan in that I don’t believe that if consciousness is difficult to understand then it couldn’t have evolved through natural selection. In other words, I believe that consciousness can be both beyond the scope of computer simulation and a product of natural selection.
I read an interesting story in Analog or Azimov mag recently in which the main character was a house AI (an AI built into the family home, charged with keeping home-life smooth and efficient) and the writer did an excellent job of illustrating the differences between real emotion and simulated emotion. I’m going to look that story up and post it’s name here in this thread. Anyone interested in this subject will love that story.
Anyway, I enjoyed reading both of your posts. Very interesting stuff.