Dennett and Searle on Consciousness: Relevance for Robot Construction

This paper contrasts Searle's theory of consciousness with Dennett's. It draws from material in Searle's book \The Rediscovery of the Mind" Searle, 1992] and his article Minds, Brains, and Programs Searle, 1980], and Dennett's book \Consciousness Explained." Dennett, 1991] The paper focuses on issues that are relevant to the design of intelligent robot systems such as Cog. In particular, it discusses whether the question \Is this artifact conscious?" is even important to ask in the context of research on intelligent robot systems. Finding that it is, we examine Searle's arguments that suggest it is impossible to build a conscious robot, and some of Dennett's responses to these.