The Limits to Machine Consciousness
arXiv Preprint Archive July 17, 2017 Subhash Kak
Consciousness, particularly subjective awareness, is not computable and cannot be replicated by machines. The authors argue that consciousness is more than an epiphenomenon and that treating it as a separate category is consistent with both quantum mechanics and cognitive science. They distinguish between two kinds of consciousness, little-C and big-C, and use this classification to analyze current academic debates. The interaction between a system and the experimenter's measuring apparatus is examined through decoherence and the quantum Zeno effect. These ideas frame the discussion of limits to machine consciousness.