What Noah Smith thinks about consciousness
Economics writer; author of the Noahpinion newsletter.
Noah Smith did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
Filter consciousness · Newest first
Topic
All 164consciousness 2America 40immigration 15China 14politics 12AI alignment 11government 6social media 6AI and jobs 5
42 more topics
demographics 4war 4economists 3education 3energy 3housing 3humility 3inflation 3innovation 3Japan 3AI agents 2batteries 2behavioural science 2Europe 2fiscal policy 2solar 2tariffs 2AGI 1AI and science 1Anthropic 1censorship 1chat interfaces 1climate change 1crypto 1cybersecurity 1data centers 1democracy 1design 1discipline 1electric vehicles 1happiness 1hiring 1LLMs 1market efficiency 1mathematics 1motivation 1nuclear power 1physics 1racism 1religion 1robotics 1stock market 1
Only Noah Smith on consciousness. See everyone on consciousness
2 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Noah Smith has said — not written or endorsed by them.
-
Our readingMachines are not conscious
Their wordsHowever, this is the most convincing argument against machine consciousness that I have ever come across.
- 6 days earlier
-
Their wordsBut since we don't know what consciousness is, how can we make AI learn it? If it exists it exists by accident