Computer Consciousness

[Everything]

Hey all,

This may have been discussed here already but it is a very intriguing and perhaps practical question, especially seeing how far computers have come in my lifetime and how they continue to progress. 
 

There is a computer in everything from a toaster to your smartphone. Some of these computers are simple mechanistic things, like a toaster, other computers like an iPhone can record events (often autonomously) and also make predictions. 
 

Is a computer conscious?  Are there certain computers that posses consciousness and not others?

I would assume that if certain computers are conscious, computer consciousness runs on a spectrum
 

I am conscious of this phone and I can fathom how consciousness created the phone and how my perception and consciousness holds the phone in my experience. 
But is the phone, any sophisticated/unsophisticated  computer, self aware?  Does this computer awareness create a separated self (ego)?  I observe in myself how my phone can be part of my ego, but does the phone perceive itself to be separate from me and the rest of the world?

 

[cookiemonster]

You may as well be asking: Is a table conscious?

There is nothing inherent about a computer or a complex system that implies consciousness.

Complexity != consciousness.

 

[LastThursday]

1 hour ago, Everything said:

But is the phone, any sophisticated/unsophisticated  computer, self aware?

Self awareness doesn't require consciousness. A computer can easily monitor itself and its own systems, maybe CPU temperature and how much RAM is being used: it is already self aware.

Self Awareness != Consciousness

[Leo Gura]

Only you are conscious.

[Everything]

10 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Only you are conscious.

*only You are conscious. 
 

My ego is not the only conscious being in all of existence, right?

10 hours ago, LastThursday said:

Self awareness doesn't require consciousness. A computer can easily monitor itself and its own systems, maybe CPU temperature and how much RAM is being used: it is already self aware.

Self Awareness != Consciousness

You say self awareness doesn’t require consciousness but your equation at the end looks contradictory. 
Self awareness and consciousness are one in the same. Thus computers possess consciousness

[Nahm]

@Everything

If a tree falls in the woods and there is nobody there to hear it, does it make a sound?

[Everything]

@Nahm

I would say yes and no. 
Computers are conscious when they are perceived?

[LastThursday]

41 minutes ago, Everything said:

Self awareness and consciousness are one in the same.

So you say. Consciousness however doesn't care about self. Self is an epiphenomenon if you like; you can have consciousness without a self.