Energy Requirements Undermine Substrate Independence and Mind-Body Functionalism

Abstract

Substrate independence and mind-body functionalism claim that thinking does not depend on any particular kind of physical implementation. But real-world information processing depends on energy, and energy depends on material substrates. Biological evidence for these claims comes from ecology and neuroscience, while computational evidence comes from neuromorphic computing and deep learning. Attention to energy requirements undermines the use of substrate independence to support claims about the feasibility of artificial intelligence, the moral standing of robots, the possibility that we may be living in a computer simulation, the plausibility of transferring minds into computers, and the autonomy of psychology from neuroscience.

Artificial consciousness: a perspective from the free energy principle

“…From a practical point of view, future computers (including potentially conscious ones), may need to satisfy the energy condition. But this not a nomological necessity (for a different view, see Thagard, 2022).…”

The Puzzling Resilience of Multiple Realization

“…In the 1990s, the assumptions about explanatory and theoretical reduction that drive the multiple realization argument against reduction came under increasing pressure (e.g., Bickle 1998, Sober 1999; see also Richardson 1979Richardson , 2009. And crossing into the current millennium, empirical concerns about the evidence for multiple realization became prominent (e.g., Bechtel and Mundale 1999, Shapiro 2000Polger 2002Polger , 2004Polger , 2009aPolger , 2009bCraver 2004;Hemmo and Shenker 2015;Polger & Shapiro 2016;Thagard 2022;Maimon and Hemmo 2022;Cao 2022; for thorough reviews, see Bickle 2010 and Despite fifty years of objections to the multiple realization argument, most philosophers continue to believe that multiple realization decisively rebuts the mind-brain identity theory and secures the "autonomy" and plurality of non-fundamental sciences. Fodor boasted:…”

Does Machine Understanding Require Consciousness?

“…At the same time arguments continue about whether the physical substrate in which any form of machine understanding or consciousness is implemented might have a critical bearing on its functionality and efficiency ( Koene, 2012 ). Such arguments become especially relevant in the context of a naturalistic approach where, for example, the foundational role of energy acquisition and dissipation in artificial intelligence is highlighted ( Thagard, 2022 ). These developments suggest that considerations about the role that energy is playing in the natural system of the brain will increasingly inform future development of machine understanding and machine consciousness.…”