What if tomorrow's AI stares back with hidden inner life - and we're blind to it?

Philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel shares his new thesis from AI and Consciousness (2026): an unbreakable "fog" of uncertainty means we'll build legions of disputably conscious machines before we ever know. Join Dr Eric Schwitzgebel and Dr Tevin Naidu as they unpack why consciousness detection is doomed, how mimicry fools us, and what humble action looks like in the void.

Highlights:
- Epistemic fog: Why AI sentience slips through our fingers
- Consciousness essentials: Luminosity, unity, & the "what-it's-like"
- Theory showdowns: Global Workspace, Higher-Order, Integrated Information
- Mimicry & Copernican arguments against bio-bias
- Leapfrog ethics: Over- or under-attributing souls to silicon?

Send detailed comments on the manuscript by Dec 15 to receive a signed hard-copy of AI and Consciousness + your name in print! Your voice matters. Email all comments to " eschwitz " at domain: " ucr.edu" for a copy of this paper or click this link: https://faculty.ucr.edu/~eschwitz/SchwitzAbs/AIConsciousness.htm

Mind. Matter. Meaning. Subscribe for philosophy that hits home. Is AI conscious yet? Debate below! πŸ§ πŸ€–

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 – AI Consciousness Book Tease & Listener Comment Call
01:52 – The Epistemic Fog: Why We Won't Know AI Sentience in Time
05:30 – Defining Consciousness: What-It’s-Like-Ness & Vague Boundaries
10:45 – AI Definitions: Too Rigid for Strange Minds?
15:20 – Borderline Consciousness: Neither Yes Nor No
20:15 – Essential Features: Luminosity, Unity & 10 Possibilities
25:40 – Introspective Limits: Why Self-Report Fails Us
30:55 – Conceptual Barriers: Narrow Evidence from Human Minds
36:10 – Mimicry Argument: Behavioral Tests Fool Experts
41:25 – Turing & Chinese Room: Low-Bar vs. High-Bar Traps
46:50 – Global Workspace Theory: Ignition or Illusion?
52:30 – Higher-Order Theories: Meta-Representation Myths
58:10 – Integrated Information Theory: Ξ¦'s Unintuitive Upshots
1:03:45 – Recurrent & Learning Models: Unlimited Associative Edges
1:09:20 – Copernican Liberalism: Beyond Biological Chauvinism
1:14:55 – Strange Intelligence: Parallelism & Distributed Clouds
1:20:30 – Leapfrog Hypothesis: Social Consensus Decides Sentience
1:26:05 – Ethical Risks: Over- vs. Under-Attributing AI Consciousness
1:31:40 – Social Semi-Solution: Pragmatic Humility in the Fog
1:37:15 – Philosophical Praxis: Living the AI Consciousness Question

EPISODE LINKS:
- Eric's Website: https://faculty.ucr.edu/~eschwitz/
- Eric's Blog: https://schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/
- Eric's X: https://twitter.com/eschwitz
- Eric's Round 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKJyo2_s5P8
- AI and Consciousness: https://faculty.ucr.edu/~eschwitz/SchwitzAbs/AIConsciousness.htm
- The Copernican Argument for Alien Consciousness; The Mimicry Argument Against Robot Consciousness: https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.00008
- The Emotional Alignment Design Policy: https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.06263

CONNECT:
- Website: https://mindbodysolution.org
- YouTube: https://youtube.com/@mindbodysolution
- Podcast: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/mindbodysolution
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/drtevinnaidu
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/drtevinnaidu
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/drtevinnaidu
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/drtevinnaidu
- Website: https://tevinnaidu.com

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