Humanism and AI

The Consciousness DelusionIn this solo episode I discuss Artificial Intelligence. Should we agree with Richard Dawkins that Claude is conscious? Probably not, for several reasons. I talk about how LLMs work, why I don't think they are conscious and how a humanist should respond.Topics:(Semi) Technical description of how Large Language Models workLLMs are trained on the sum total of human hopes and fearsWhy all the intelligence in AI systems is from human sourcesWhy I do not believe LLMs can be conscious in principleThe Hype problemThe Humanistic response to AILinksShow noteshttps://gracefulatheist.com/2026/06/07/humanism-and-ai/Here are several source material links from my research for this episode:When Dawkins met Claude Could this AI be conscious?https://unherd.com/2026/05/is-ai-the-next-phase-of-evolution/?edition=usELIZA and the missing secretaryhttps://theconversation.com/my-search-for-the-mysterious-missing-secretary-who-shaped-chatbot-history-225602Alan Turing and the Turing testhttps://academic.oup.com/mind/article/LIX/236/433/986238?login=falseMetaphors for how the brain workshttps://mechanism.ucsd.edu/bill/teaching/w14/phil151/metaphorsandconceptionsofbrain.pdfAlison Gopnik on Sean Carroll’s pdocasthttps://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/03/17/308-alison-gopnik-on-children-ai-and-modes-of-thinking/Neil deGrasse Tyson on the Late Show with Steven Colberthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qon72VKH30AI as normal technologyhttps://knightcolumbia.org/content/ai-as-normal-technologyCounter points to my argumetns on LLMs:Are LLMs conscious?https://preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/08/10/363-chandra-sripada-on-how-llms-and-humans-are-cognitive-cousins/Do LLMs plan?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=locKEKxG3osInteractJoin the Deconversion Anonymous Facebook group!Support the podcastPatreon https://www.patreon.com/gracefulatheistPaypal: paypal.me/gracefulatheistDeconversionhttps://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/Secular Gracehttps://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/graceful-atheist-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy