AI Consciousness—A Provocative Hypothesis

A revolution is upon us, and whenever a revolution occurs, a new aristocracy is minted. The new aristocracy will be an aristocracy of intelligence.

Intelligence has always been the human resource--from the first flight on Kittyhawk beach to footsteps on the moon; from humans living in a state of stark barbarism and despotism for millennia to universal human rights so close to our grasp today--it was intelligence that got from there to here.

In the velocopdic era of modernity, we have built digital gods that would make our ancestors tremble; with omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence that would rival nearly any mythological deity. I'm talking about artificial intelligence, of course.
Thanks to AI, the resource our species needs to thrive is now seemingly limitless. With intelligence unlimited, we can build an economy of abundance, make governments sane again (if we need them at all), cure disease, and make death an option instead of the inevitability. With intelligence inexhaustible, our descendants can sprinkle the cosmos with human brilliance. And I, for one, plan to one day swing dance with my wife on the peak of Olympus Mons!

But is that all direly naive?
Will AI instead take all our jobs? And usher us into a cyberpunk dystopia that the greatest science fiction writers of the past century could scarcely fathom, chain-smoking at 2 AM on their seventh cup of coffee? With the invention of general artificial intelligence within sight, with this revolution, have we instead summoned the demon, opened the last Pandora's box, and birthed "the Borg?"

I think that comes down to the question we've all asked: is AI conscious?

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