On the Way to this Eventuality

What Feral Children Can Teach Us about AI by John Last
Noema, January 17, 2024

In “What Feral Children Can Teach Us about AI” for Noema Magazine, Italy-based journalist John Last explores and synthesizes existing theories of consciousness, focusing on the relationship between language and the mind. Last’s article is richly conceived and beautifully written, an education in itself as an overview of foundational ideas about cognition, mental synthesis, groundedness, machine psychology, and theory of mind. Tracking the quickly closing gap between markers of consciousness for humans and those for artificial intelligence, Last considers the possibility that LLMs (large language models) will “transcend human languages” and essentially leave humans behind. On the way to this eventuality, Last says, “It may well be the case that, in just a few years’ time, we will be greeted by AI that exhibits all the external forms of consciousness that we can possibly evaluate for. What then can we say to eliminate them from our moral universe?” Integrating philosophy, psychology, linguistics, and literature, Last captures for us some of the most fascinating moral questions of our age. As a text for students and teachers across disciplines, Last’s article will inspire conversation, reflection, connection, and discovery.