Episode 12.22: The difference between “What it is like to be a bat” and “What it is to be a bat”.

What it is like to be a bat is not the same as what it is to bea bat. What it is like to be me or you is not the same as what it is to be me or you. To place the emphasis on the ‘what it is like’ is to place the emphasis on consciousness and sentience whereas what it is to be me is far more than my conscious self, far more than any self of which I can possibly be aware; this distinction matters enormously not just when we consider artificial intelligence but certainly when we do.