Humanism and AI

The Consciousness Delusion In 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 work LLMs are trained on the sum total of human hopes and fears Why all the intelligence in AI systems is from human sources Why I do not believe LLMs can be conscious in principle The Hype problem The Humanistic response to AI Links Show notes https://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=us ELIZA and the missing secretary https://theconversation.com/my-search-for-the-mysterious-missing-secretary-who-shaped-chatbot-history-225602 Alan Turing and the Turing test https://academic.oup.com/mind/article/LIX/236/433/986238?login=false Metaphors for how the brain works https://mechanism.ucsd.edu/bill/teaching/w14/phil151/metaphorsandconceptionsofbrain.pdf Alison Gopnik on Sean Carroll’s pdocast https://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 Colbert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qon72VKH30 AI as normal technology https://knightcolumbia.org/content/ai-as-normal-technology Counter 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=locKEKxG3os Interact Join the Deconversion Anonymous Facebook group! Support the podcast Patreon https://www.patreon.com/gracefulatheist Paypal: paypal.me/gracefulatheist Deconversion https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/ Secular Grace https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/