Wandering through the garden of consciousness

[Consciousness, from E1]

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CHATBOTS are hacking “our emotion and our ability to attach to other human beings,” says Michael Pollan.

(CAROLYN FONG For The Times)

who has it), he writes, should at least give us pause as we consider how governments and corporations extract resources from arguably sentient ecosystems.

He examines how careful we need to be as we develop AIs that may hold the capacity for their own suffering, whether we should be selling our own awareness to social media platforms in exchange for entertainment, how we treat animals, and much more.

“This interiority we have is so precious,” says Pollan, as he leans back against his cushy brown sofa in a navy blue sweater and worn loafers, a cup of green tea at his side. In every moment, he points out, even now, “we're having a conversation, but you also have a conversation going on in your own head at the same time. It’s crazy.”

This “private space of freedom,” he says, “we're giving away and is being bought and sold by companies. We talk about the hacking of attention, but what is attention, if not, this very important aspect of consciousness, right? And now we're moving into this further giveaway realm with chatbots that people are forming these emotional attachments with. And so now they’re hacking something deeper than attention, which is our emotion and our ability to attach to other human beings. And so there’s an implicit argument in the book that we need to be more conscious and not give it away, protect it. Defend it.”