Consciousness and McKeever’s “Adam Mode” for Large Language Models

In June of 2026, I sat down for my morning coffee and had a chat with ChatGPT. It was guided, in part, by some of the conclusions I made in my 2024 book, “Judge: Philosophy and Freedom in the First Person“. I wanted to explore the possibility of agency and the possibility of a rationally self-serving  consciousness on an LLM. For those who want more than the macho flash (H/T Michael Emerling, a.k.a., Michael Cloud) resulting from conclusions unbacked by arguments, I certainly would refer you to my book. However, I’ve asked ChatGPT to summarize in 2500 words or so that conversation, which I trust some of you – including not a few Objectivists – will find interesting.

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