Current-generation approaches to machine consciousness (MC) have a number of characteristic responses to arguments levelled against the enterprise. These responses tend to marginalize phenomenal consciousness. They do so by presupposing a 'thin' conception of phenomenality which is, in fact, largely shared by anti-computationalist critics of MC. The thin conception sees phenomenality as something that can be easily 'peeled away' from the rest of the physical world. On the thin conception, physiological or neural or functional or organizational features are secondary accompaniments to consciousness rather than primary components of consciousness itself. This inadequate conception bedevils much debate about the nature of consciousness. Can there be a more adequate MC programme, operating on an alternative, 'thick' conception of phenomenality? Recent 'enactive' approaches to consciousness perhaps show some signposts in the right direction.
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