Haikonen's View on Machine Consciousness: Back to the Engineering Stance

Abstract

Machine consciousness is a young research field, yet inspired by oldest intellectual disciplines like philosophy of mind. Specifically, the mind–body problem has been approached since ancient times and different accounts have been proposed along the centuries. While none of these accounts, like different forms of dualism, have been seen as useful working hypotheses in the domain of machine consciousness, their influence might have shaped the orientation of this research field towards a frantic search for an illusory and unachievable bridge for the explanatory gap. In his book, Consciousness and Robot Sentience, Haikonen seems to claim back the predominant position that engineering should have in a domain, where we are supposed to deliver pragmatic solutions. In this regard, Haikonen is actually bridging the gap between the philosophical discourse and the practical engineering approach. This is a remarkable movement as Haikonen is essentially claiming that his cognitive architecture is a proof of the inexistence of such a thing as a mind–body problem. In this book review, I analyze the implications, limitations, and prospects of this engineering stance, looking at the main contributions and those aspects that might require further explanation.