  If we take the subjective character of consciousness seriously, consciousness
becomes a matter of "being" rather than "doing". Because "doing" can be
dissociated from "being", functional criteria alone are insufficient to decide
whether a system possesses the necessary requirements for being a physical
substrate of consciousness. The dissociation between "being" and "doing" is
most salient in artificial general intelligence, which may soon replicate any
human capacity: computers can perform complex functions (in the limit
resembling human behavior) in the absence of consciousness. Complex behavior
becomes meaningless if it is not performed by a conscious being.
