Some cognitive scientists now believe that, through development of artificial intelligence, we can create and manipulate consciousness.  It’s like those fantasy movies about robots one day having a mind like humans. It’s seems somewhat shocking to us that a computer could be smarter than we are when we built and programmed it.  We’re different, and an important way; there’s something it’s “like” to be conscious, as Nagel suggests in “What is it Like to be a Bat?,” something distinctively qualitative about our conscious experiences.

Philosophical Engineering Quintessential Knowledge:

Understanding the nature of mental states is important in recognizing the potential humans have over computers. In the Turing test, inputs and outputs are viewed to be controlled by a syntactic computer code. But it seems our sensory inputs and behavioral outputs are not so simple as even the most intricate computer program.  What connects some of our own sensory inputs and behavioral outputs may be no more mysterious than the complex physiological responses studied by neuroscientists.  But the qualitative nature of these inputs, and the role of our conscious experience in producing certain outputs, goes beyond mere syntactic codes.  I don’t see buttons on the computer for pain, itches, or my headache the morning after a long night of drinking, nor can I imagine a computer code to describe my thoughts on politics for the upcoming election.

From Chapter 5 Mind as  Computing Machine of Kim, J. , Philosophy of Mind Third Edition. Westview Press: 2011 and from Chapter 14 Consciousness Imagined of Dennett, D., Consciousness Explained. Penguin Books: 1991.