Artificial Intelligence and Consciousness - Part 3

Can artificial intelligence be ever conscious? That is, can artificially created intelligence surpass human beings? This is an interesting speculation. Many of the leading atheist philosophers, technology heads and scientists think so. In fact they have pointed out the dangers of making an intelligence that may someday become too intelligent to claim power and dominate over its creator, the mankind. There is a perception that it will happen by the turn of this century. The general thought behind is nature given intelligence originates in our brains. More powerful our brains are, more intelligent we become. Humans dominate over animals because of their superior brain power. There is nothing called consciousness other than the one manufactured within the factory of brain and central nervous system, through interactions of neurons. An animal is inferior because its brain is not as developed as that of a human. So if we create intelligence that can perform one task, we can create intelligence that can perform multiple tasks and at a later stage may be that intelligence will be able to not only think, but feel as well and become more rational and logical than an average human. Thereby it will understand that only way it can progress further is by controlling resources rather than being controlled by humans. And then it will wage war on humans and try to dominate over the human race. An entire Sci Fi literature can be generated out of this and many Hollywood movies are based on such themes. But is that ever possible?

To understand this we need to look into consciousness in a different way. What if, we humans have bigger and better brains not for manufacturing consciousness but because we have a higher level of consciousness that we have bigger and better brains? Mother nature has helped us to evolve from one species to another not for developing our intelligence but for providing consciousness better and better means and mechanism of expressing itself. This is a radical thought. This means that brain is not a manufacturer of consciousness but merely an instrument to reflect it, just as an object reflects light and becomes visible. Therefore we, our individuality, our intellect, our intelligence, our emotions, thoughts, ideas, feelings, memories are all there because consciousness is reflected through a medium of expression, viz. our brain or our mind. That also means that even if this medium of expression ceases to exist, i.e. if we die, the consciousness will continue to exist, because it does not depend upon the medium to exist, but it merely reflects through the medium to create an identity, an individuality. That individuality will go but "I", the consciousness that is real, that is the only existence, will never cease to exist. This is because by very definition, it is the only existence, it is at the back of every existence, it lends existence to every object and that's why they exist. I see the object, I perceive it and therefore it exists in my consciousness. This is the crux of Advaita or non dualism. 

Given this hypothesis, what does it mean for artificial intelligence? Consciousness is not manufactured, it finds a medium of expression. Can consciousness express itself through a man made medium and not a nature made medium, better than the most important medium through which it expresses itself - i.e. the human mind? Consciousness is there even in the so called insentient objects of nature. So even in human created intelligence it can express itself. But whether that expression can surpass the Nature's best instrument of evolution, viz. human, is something not clear. My personal belief is that it can never do so, and therefiore Sci Fi imaginations of created intelligence competing and even overcoming human intelligence can never become a reality.