Output details
11 - Computer Science and Informatics
University of Edinburgh
Could There be a Turing Test for Qualia?
<22>Originality: The paper develops a very innovative thought experiment regarding possible behavioural evidence for conscious experience in computational artefacts, and advances the debate regarding the ontological status of qualia by arguing that they are functionally epiphenomenal.
Significance: The 'missing qualia' scenarios addressed by the paper are notoriously resilient, but the discussion presents a new and progressive angle stemming from conjectured behavioural equivalence, combined with possible differences in properties of the physical substrate available to natural selection versus human engineering.
Rigour: Precision and clarity of verbal articulation extremely high, comprehensive discursive structure, the reasoning and conceptual analysis incisive and highly meticulous.