Why you can't make a computer that feels pain

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why you can’t make a computer that feels pain

Why

After The Abstraction Fallacy, I got a resurgence of interest in AI-related topics.

The Abstraction Fallacy

Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Abstraction Fallacy

The full title of the article is: The Abstraction Fallacy: Why AI can simulate but not instantiate consciousness. The article claims that computational functionalism is committing a categorical mistake when asserting that consciousness can arise from the symbolic manipulation of abstract concepts. This is called The Abstraction Fallacy. Functionalism ignores the physical origin of information and its causal chain. Instead of the natural order, from raw sensations to conscience to abstract concepts, functionalism assumes that conscience can be instantiated from abstract concepts, “backwards”. The article claims that this inversion is not possible, and conscience cannot be instantiated from symbolic manipulation of abstract concepts, because it ignores the fundamental role of the mapmaker. The mapmaker is who extracts abstract concepts from raw sensory data: it’s the giver of meaning to the abstract symbols.

Article on Lorenzo Bolla

Why you can't make a computer that feels pain

Why you can’t make a computer that feels pain

Why

The Abstraction Fallacy

The Abstraction Fallacy