What Dogs See That We Can't
Consciousness separates us from machines. Need convincing? Just take a good look at a faithful canine.
TL;DR
- The current discourse on consciousness focuses on what separates humans from machines, shifting from historical debates about human-animal distinctions.
- Judith Shulevitz's essay, inspired by Thomas W. Laqueur's book 'The Dog's Gaze: A Visual History,' examines how dogs in art are depicted as observers capable of communicating effectively.
- Michael Pollan's exploration of consciousness suggests that elemental capacities like feelings and emotions, which humans share with animals, have proven more difficult for machines to master than 'higher' capabilities like reason and language.
- AI's lack of sentience, emotion, and felt experience may explain the mediocrity of machine-made art and the shortcomings of large language models compared to human brilliance.
- The article contrasts the intellectual achievements of AI with the essential, non-uniquely human capabilities like sentience and emotion, which are central to intuition and artistic expression.