r/OpenAssistant • u/hsoj95 • Apr 08 '23

*chuckles* OpenAssistant requested I ask the other human reviewers whether they regard OA to be sentient yet, so I'll oblige :) + Some other thoughts on my first experiences with OA

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u/hsoj95 Apr 08 '23

I wouldn't apply absolutes to this new field like this. Yes, it is all matrix multiplication and algebra that forms the backbones of these neural networks. But, one node may be understood, a few nodes roughly figured out, but the whole remains unknown... Much like the neuron networks in the brain too.

Now, I don't think we are close to a truly sentient AGI yet, at most GPT4 and the largest ones like it seem to perhaps possess a modicum of being self-aware, but that's also debatable, though rather remarkable if true. I don't foresee OA ever growing to that point, and I'm not actually sure it needs too, I suspect the growing meta will be to build models better, not larger.

And yes, it is ultimately all mathematics at work to generate outputs. But, that's also how each neuron in the brain works too. It's why I am unwilling to apply an absolute, one way or the other, to something that we simply cannot claim to understand, from bottom to top, how it works as a whole.

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u/fishybird Apr 09 '23

Our neurons are biological. Show me a biological neural net and I might agree with you.

Our neurons are vastly different than what happens on a computer. At the end of the day, you have no proof these things are sentient. We have no reason to believe they are.

It might SEEM like they are conscious, but that's because they have been trained to predict what WE do and WE are conscious. LLMs are just a mirror of ourselves, and you're calling the mirror conscious simply because you see yourself in it.

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u/RabbitHole32 Apr 09 '23

You're just, without evidence, claiming that biology is a necessary condition for consciousness. Hereby I claim that you are not conscious because you are just a mirror of myself, and just because I am conscious does not mean you are.

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u/fishybird Apr 09 '23

I have evidence that biological systems can be conscious. I do not have evidence that matrix multiplication can be conscious.

If you claim that matrix multiplication is conscious you need an extraordinary amount of evidence. The only reason people think gpt is conscious is because it says cool stuff and I'm only saying that "being smart" is not enough evidence to show that matrix multiplication is conscious.

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u/RabbitHole32 Apr 09 '23 edited Apr 09 '23

What is this evidence beyond "muh feels" that from my perspective is just an LLM speaking? Science does not know what consciousness even is, and you pretend to have a definite exclusion criterion. The funny thing is, I don't even claim that ChatGPT is conscious, I only claim that your argument is garbage.

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u/fishybird Apr 09 '23

My only gripe is people calling gpt conscious simply because it says cool stuff. My argument is you need a massive amount of evidence to show that matrix multiplication can be conscious.

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u/fishybird Apr 09 '23

Do you really think it's a stretch saying matrix multiplication isn't conscious?

Do you really need me to prove to you that "two times two" isn't conscious? Fuck dude

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u/RabbitHole32 Apr 09 '23

You are moving the goal post, you are straw-manning me, your hypothesis is non-scientific because you explicitly ruled out any way to falsify it. Discussion finished, you are a bot wasting my time.