Coscienza e Intelligenza Artificiale: due ontologie dell’immaginario

The juxtaposition of the category of the Imaginary with what is commonly understood by the term Artificial Intelligence evokes representations of temporal dynamics based on the 'feeling of infinity'. However the dimensions of the Imaginary that come into play in this way are two and unmistakable. The first is that of the imaginary concerning the intangible horizon of intelligent systems design and processing programmes. The second meaning is that in itself obscure, and therefore no less indeterminate, which refers to the ability to simulate the existence of subjects endowed with decision-making autonomy. The concept of Artificial Intelligence refers here, in a word, to the ability to simulate consciousness. This is the real 'problem' of Artificial Intelligence. This is why the most authoritative sources of philosophical reflection and computer neurology continue to emphasise the disconcerting indefiniteness of consciousness, from a natural rather than an artificial point of view. The robotic simulation of attractiveness, for example in the form of sex toys, is both plausible and current, but less so the simulation of the aesthetic experience on the basis of which an attractive humanoid is axiomatically designed.