In his first-year seminar dubbed “Could a Robot Ever Be Conscious?” Professor Richard Huskey guides students to discuss theories of consciousness. Through a variety of fields ranging from neuroscience to philosophy, students in this first-year seminar have nuanced conversations about artificial intelligence and consciousness, and whether anything distinguishes the two.

“It’s a class where you can’t really be wrong,.” said Husky, in the Department of Communication. “These ideas are really heavy and complicated, and I love seeing students come out of their shells in the seminar to grapple with them.”

In the seminar, students read articles on consciousness and watch episodes of the TV show Westworld, a sci-fi series where robots take over an amusement park. Husky said materials like these can make the obscure topic of consciousness easier to understand. 

“Each week the students in the class read one classic article on the philosophy of consciousness, and then watch one episode of Westworld,” Husky explained. “It’s a way to make abstract, philosophical ideas more tangible in class.” 

Artificial intelligence and consciousness have intersected with a variety of questions being asked on campus, and Huskey said he sees evidence of this in his class, where students in Huskey’s seminar come from a wide variety of majors.

“Computer science is a pretty common major, but we also have a lot of political science students who may be worried about the political ramifications of AI. My cognitive science and philosophy students are interested in the connection between the mind and the brain,” said Huskey. “Everyone sees some connection with the things that they’re already studying.”

In a recent seminar, Huskey and the students discussed dualism, a concept suggesting that the body and mind are separate entities. They debated whether or not dualism could be applied to robots and ethical concerns on creating a conscious robot. Huskey said he believes that these conversations encourage students to think critically about their beliefs and potential biases. 

“This is a space where students really get to experience live and open-ended questions,” Huskey emphasized. “I want them to walk away from my class with critical thinking skills that can be applied anywhere, especially in a period of time where tons of perspectives are coming out about the hype of artificial intelligence.”

Huskey will teach the first-year seminar again in winter 2025.