If digital computers are conscious, they are conscious at the hardware level

Contemporary debate over the moral patienthood of digital minds misses the forest for the trees. Mainstream opinion is divided into physicalist and computationalist camps, who believe that consciousness is substrate dependent and substrate independent , respectively. For this reason, those on the physicalist side frequently make the claim that digital computers will never be conscious . Personally, I consider myself a physicalist , but I’m also a panpsychist – because physics doesn’t really seem to deal in hard absolutes, and I find it straightforward to consider that everything is conscious to some greater or lesser degree – so I’m loath to accept any claims which propose that any specific system isn’t conscious. I think statements such as these are not defensible , and only serve to encourage misunderstanding and even foment philosophical tribalism.