The “C” word

I dislike the punditry that surrounds generative AI. Perhaps on brand, much of it is machine-generated. The rest is mired in near-religious fervor, flames fanned for financial or political gain. There’s also simply too much of it. I have opinions — opinions I like! — but so does everyone else in your social media feed.At the same time, it’s a shame that we so thoroughly poisoned this well. The tech breathes new life into some ancient philosophical questions; it would be lovely to explore them without having to first join a cult. Perhaps the most interesting of these questions is — wait for it — the meaning of consciousness.A dictionary in handTo explain an unfamiliar term to others, you need a definition crisp enough to let them distinguish between what is and isn’t it. For example, it’s probably not enough to say that a cat is an animal. It’s better to spell out that it’s about one foot tall, furry, and likes to meow.A bit uncharacteristically, we have no real clue about the nature…