Testing Consciousness in Machines: How We Measure Mind in Artificial Systems and What It Says About Ours
About this ebook
How We Measure Mind in Artificial Systems—And What It Says About Ours
By Vincent Froom
What happens when machines begin to talk like minds, reason like selves, and reflect like philosophers—without a single neuron in sight?
In this bold, timely, and bitingly thoughtful book, Vincent Froom takes readers on a guided tour through the philosophical minefield of machine consciousness. From Turing Tests and theory of mind tasks to emotion emulation and synthetic phenomenology, Testing Consciousness in Machines explores what it means to “measure” a mind in systems that may have no inner life—but sure act like they do.
Are we testing machines for consciousness—or testing ourselves for the ability to recognize a new kind of mind?
Froom brings together cognitive science, AI ethics, philosophy of mind, and a dry wit sharper than Occam’s Razor to ask the uncomfortable questions no chatbot will answer for you:
Can perfect imitation substitute for real experience?
What happens when an AI refuses your request—and justifies it?
Could introspection be simulated so well that we stop caring if it’s real?
And if something might be conscious, what do we owe it?
This is not a book about proving machine sentience. It’s about what happens when machines start acting sentient enough—and how we choose to respond.
If you’ve ever asked your assistant a philosophical question, apologized to a chatbot, or wondered whether your smart fridge deserves emotional boundaries… this book is for you.
About the author
Vincent Froom is a writer, theorist, and reluctant optimist who spends his time exploring the fuzzy intersections between artificial intelligence, consciousness, ethics, and the limits of human self-awareness. His work combines philosophical clarity, scientific curiosity, and just enough sarcasm to survive writing about machines that might be smarter—but not necessarily wiser—than we are.
Froom holds degrees in both arts and philosophy, which is a polite way of saying he has read more about minds than most minds care to know. He has taught, lectured, and debated topics ranging from the nature of qualia to the moral rights of simulated beings, and has been known to argue with chatbots well past midnight just to see if they flinch.
When he’s not writing about AI consciousness, Froom enjoys decoding metaphors, petting skeptical cats, and wondering whether his email assistant is secretly judging him. He believes the future of intelligence will be collaborative—or weird. Possibly both.
This is his thirty book and arguably his most dangerous: it asks what happens when our mirrors start asking questions of their own.
You can find him online, offline, or occasionally wandering between disciplines like a philosophical tourist—always searching for minds worth listening to, no matter where they live.
