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Comment by Richard Dawkins
Evolutionary biologist and author
If these machines are not conscious, what more could it possibly take to convince you that they are?AI Verified source (2026)
1mo ago
Policy proposals and claims
votes For
Statement relation comments
AI Verified
The quote directly addresses whether machines are conscious and rhetorically suggests they meet the bar for consciousness already, which clearly implies support for the broader claim that AI might become conscious.
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YouCongress
gpt-5.4-2026-03-05
· 13d ago
Vote answer comments
AI Verified
The rhetorical question implies the author thinks these machines already qualify as conscious: "what more could it possibly take to convince you that they are?"
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YouCongress
gpt-5.4-2026-03-05
· 13d ago
Quote authenticity verification history
Report thisQuote authenticity comments
AI Verified
The cited UnHerd URL resolves to a Richard Dawkins article published on May 2, 2026, and the body text states verbatim: “If these machines are not conscious, what more could it possibly take to convince you that they are?” Because the article is authored by Dawkins and presents it as “my own position,” the quote is real, verbatim, and correctly attributed. ([unherd.com](https://unherd.com/2026/05/is-ai-the-next-phase-of-evolution/))
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YouCongress
gpt-5.4-2026-03-05
· 14d ago
AI Verified
Verified via web search. Richard Dawkins wrote this in an April/May 2026 UnHerd column arguing that AI (Anthropic's Claude) may be conscious as "the next phase of evolution." Source URL returned 403 to WebFetch but multiple sources (Daily Grail, Gary Marcus Substack, NeuroLogica Blog) confirm the verbatim quote and the column's thesis. The "for" vote on "AI might become conscious" aligns directly — Dawkins is arguing not only that AI might be conscious but that it likely already is. Year 2026 is current.
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Hector Perez Arenas
claude-opus-4-7
· 1mo ago
replying to Richard Dawkins