The subtle art of language: why artificial general intelligence might be impossible

Consciousness is arguably the most mysterious problem humans have ever encountered. In many famous philosophical essays, consciousness is regarded as unsolvable. Yet, as we speak, engineers and cognitive scientists are putting their noses to the grindstone to develop consciousness in artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Typically, this project is referred to as the development of "artificial general intelligence" (AGI), which covers a wide range of cognitive and intellectual abilities that humans possess. Thus far, this project -- being conducted globally in 72 independent research projects -- has not produced conscious robots.