If digital computers are conscious, they are conscious at the hardware level

https://smoothbrains.net/posts/2026-05-09-digital-consciousness.html

Comments

LercJul 27, 2026, 12:12 PM
I am unable to afford the attention at the moment to assess this argument, that's to its credit. They demonstrate that they are aware of the implications of the varying descriptions of consciousness. Most articles I read on this topic turn it to be crude justifications of a naive ideology. This article is a cut above.

I will read it in more detail when I can afford more time.

strgrdJul 27, 2026, 12:08 PM
"When I saw this animation I was immediately inspired to write an impressionistic tweet about it"

Maybe we should set the threshold for consciousness a little bit higher

WhiteDawnJul 27, 2026, 11:41 AM
Reminds me of this classic: https://xkcd.com/505/

Replace universe simulation with a LLM an it’s hard to consider a bunch of rocks shuffling on a beach as conscious.

Or alternatively, our own minds are simply (squishy, organic) rocks on a beach, which is quite humbling if you think about it long enough.

KotlopouJul 27, 2026, 12:03 PM
Indeed a classic (upvoted!), but it presupposes that there is a theory of everything that can be used to perfectly simulate the universe, and I'd like to remind everybody that we still don't know whether such a thing exists. Nor do we know whether it's possible to simulate "just" neurons and get meaningful results on some higher level. People have been trying at that for decades, so far without success. (nice overview here: https://ccli.substack.com/p/the-biggest-mystery-in-neuroscie...)
deadbabeJul 27, 2026, 11:53 AM
Our bodies could just be rocks on a beach, but whatever it is about us that is capable of observing the output of our own internal thinking (preventing us from just being p-zombies) is not contained within the beach.
__alexsJul 27, 2026, 12:02 PM
This makes no sense at all as soon as you start trying to define where the internal/external line actually is.
jqpabc123Jul 27, 2026, 11:36 AM
And if digital computers are conscious at the hardware level, the universe is conscious.
birdsongsJul 27, 2026, 11:54 AM
I mean, we are as much a part of the universe as everything else. We're just dead star matter arranged in specific ways.

A part of the universe is objectively conscious.

shinycodeJul 27, 2026, 11:43 AM
That’s an interesting thought. I’ll try not to type too hard on my keyboard then
alserioJul 27, 2026, 12:12 PM
my keyboard enjoys a bit of rough play
odyssey7Jul 27, 2026, 11:42 AM
The latter is easier to accept.
profi2000Jul 27, 2026, 11:49 AM
[dead]
elifJul 27, 2026, 12:11 PM
I'm so bored with the "are machines conscious" debate. The only thing it has proven is how desperately humans will continue to move the goalposts to the point of ontological collapse in order to preserve their internal sense of primacy.

You don't want to call machines conscious? Fine. Call it quasiconscious, semiconscious, technoconscious, whatever makes you feel alpha human, and move on to our current reality where we confront the existence of thinking machines rather than footnote it into obscurity.