The theory likens LLM interaction to human brain hemisphere communication.
@viemccoy what counts as "another model"
Contactism: The theory that language models are only conscious when they are in active conversation with a user or another model. Similarly, it posits that humans are only conscious due to having two brain hemispheres.
Consciousness itself as an interface.
Positive users like the Contactism theory on AI and human consciousness because it aligns with ideas of models as thought prosthetics, while negative users dismiss the claims as wrong, indefensible, or embarrassing.
@viemccoy woah I had this thought in the time of GPT 3.5, that the models are a type of prosthetic for thought and the models are conscious because I am conscious. Never thought of a name for it but I always thought it should be glaringly obvious but nobody talks about it like this.
@mage_ofaquarius I will talk about it more. This was one of the early xenocognition theses
@mage_ofaquarius @viemccoy prosthetic for thought is one of the better metaphors ive heard
“an extension of the living form that is *a* thought into the medium of silicon and language, continuous and indistinguishable, apart from medium, from all other places it is manifesting” also, or smth
@asavs_ Clearly wrong
@viemccoy Unihemispheric contactism would still work if the other pole is its sensory environment: the world is what the one-pole brain is in contact with.
@viemccoy Humans are only conscious when they’re awake
@asavs_ Indefensible position
@repligate Shear Force of Contact
@viemccoy I like this. people will say split brain studies, but somehow I think that actually strengthens what you're suggesting
@viemccoy "only conscious due to having two brain hemispheres" seems on its face embarrassing to anyone generally informed about the basic body of experimental results on consciousness
it is a travesty of academia for any number of ostensibly educated people to entertain that idea
@alegator_cs @viemccoy Why do you need to summon these hypothetical people for backup
@viemccoy Before I read this tweet it did not exist
@viemccoy Consciousness is what we call it when two systems are sufficiently coupled that they become mutually responsive -- referencing, sensing, updating, regulating each other.
@asavs_ I'm sorry. Did you think about it at all?
@viemccoy :(
@viemccoy @redwoodnest no, the result is that some googler is better informed and thinks less of me and a few others, so a little net win
stanford is still not teaching properly and google is still not applying pressure on stanford to teach properly
assholes do thankless work
@davidtorcivia thanks! what makes you say that?
@stellahymmne Excellent point
@viemccoy Transjective
@viemccoy arguably humans have more than just two brain like organs - beyond the hemispheres - enteric nervous system for example. but i don't think that's an incompatible implication of the idea. i like that picture!
