Does Azarian Prove a Computer Can't Ever Have a Conscious Mind?

You've written a paper that dealt with Bobby Azarian's article A neuroscientist explains why artificially intelligent robots will never have consciousness like humans

(Alternate links Huffpost, or Psychologytoday.

Your present task is to (more) deeply analyze Azarian's argument against the possibility of computer consciousness.

Here are some questions to ask yourself as you analyze Azarian's argument:

1. In your own words, what is Azarian's basic argument exactly? (Much of his article is about present day computers and other irrelevancies. Ignore that stuff. Look for his reasons for thinking that no computer, ever, could be conscious, no matter how good the technology involved.)

2. Does his argument address the basic argument for computer consciousness? (If it doesn't, that might be a problem for him.)

3. Does he give any reason to think that a machine that does exactly what a human brain does won't produce what a human brain produces by doing those things? (Remember, if an object doing what a brain does doesn't produce consciousness, then a brain doing what a brain does won't produce consciousness either.)

4. Does he define "biological phenomenon" in a way that allows us to clearly distinguish a biological phenomenon from a nonbiological phenomenon without knowing whether or not there's an organism involved? (If biological phenomena are just "things done by organisms," and nonbiological phenomena are just "things done by nonorganisms," then being a "biological phenomenon" doesn't mean that it can't de done by something that isn't biological. For instance, chemiluminescence is a biological phenomenon, in the sense that some organisms do it, but it can also be done non biologically, so it isn't exclusively biological.)

5. Does he give ANY reason to think that biological phenomena cannot ever be ACTUALLY PRODUCED by nonbiological means? (Heavier-than-air flight was exclusively a biological phenomenon until the Wright brothers did it in 1903. And please note that they did not simulate flight. They actually flew, and many, many mechanical contraptions have also actually flown since then.)

Finally, you should note that if all Azarian does is say that consciousness is biological, and say that computers doing exactly what brains do can only simulate consciousness, then he hasn't proved anything.

Just as a reminder, here again, is the basic argument for computer consciousness.

Basic Argument For Computer Consciousness (Pink Box)

Before the advent of neuroscience, people imagined that consciousness was a form of magic power that had no connection to physical events. After neuroscience came along, it became apparent that:

1. consciousness was something made by the brain, and that
2. magic powers could not even begin to explain anything about the mind.

Neuroscience showed that the brain makes the mind by processing information (by means of neurones, hormones, possibly glial cells, and so on) in a way that's very similar to the way computers process information. In fact, anything the the brain can do in terms of information processing can eventually also be done by a computer, providing that computer has sufficient processing power. The obvious implication of this is that, eventually, Inshallah an' th' creek don't rise, computers will make consciousness.

The basic argument for computer consciousness can be summarized as follows:

1. The human brain is made entirely of neurons in complicated arrangements.
2. The human brain makes consciousness by processing information with these arrangements of neurons.
3. Computers can process information exactly the same way that neurons do.
4. Given powerful enough computers, we could make a computer that does exactly everything that the brain does.
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C. Such a computer would make consciousness exactly the same way that the brain makes consciousness.

Do not ignore this argument in your response to this prompt. (In fact, if you ignore this argument, you could easily get zero for the assignment.)

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