När når vi AGI?

It is proposed to consider present-day physics as dealing with a special situation, the situation in which the phenomena of life and consciousness play no role. It is pointed out that physical theory has often dealt, in the past, with similarly special situations. Planetary theory neglects all but gravitational forces, macroscopic physics neglects fluctuations due to the atomic structure of matter, nuclear physics disregards weak and gravitational interactions. In some of these cases, physicists were well aware of dealing with special situations, or limiting cases as they are called in the article; in other cases, they were not. It is pointed out that, even if it were true that present-day physics accurately describes the motion of the physical constituents of living bodies, it would not give the whole story. Arguments are adduced, however, to show that the laws of physics, applicable for inanimate matter, will have to be modified when dealing with the more general situation in which life and consciousness play significant roles.

I believe that the present laws of physics are at least incomplete without a translation into terms of mental phenomena. More likely, they are inaccurate, the inaccuracy increasing with the increase of the role which life plays in the phenomena considered. The example of the wasp which does not seem to have sensations may indicate that even animals of considerable complexity are not far from being automata, largely subject to the present ideas of physics. On the other hand, the fact that the laws of microscopic physics are formulated in terms of observations is strong evidence that these laws become invalid for the description of observations whenever consciousness plays a decisive role. This also constitutes the difference between the view here represented and the views of traditional philosophers. They considered body and soul as two different and separate entities, though interacting with each other. The view given here considers inanimate matter as a limiting case in which the phenomena of life and consciousness play as little a role as the nongravitational forces play in planetary motion, as fluctuations play in macroscopic physics. It is argued that, as we consider situations in which consciousness is more and more relevant, the necessity for modifications of the regularities obtained for inanimate objects will be more and more apparent.