Science consists of predictions based on measurements of our perception as mediated by our senses or tools that augment them. Dualism (or idealism for that matter) doesn't require religious beliefs. You can arrive at them analytically. Science is great for explaining the conventional reality of things as they appear though. But until I read a convincing explanation for consciousness and subjective experience that doesn't reduce to "neural correlates" I can't get on board with physicalism.
The fact that we're not all unconscious automatons that just evolved from one long cause-effect chain stemming from the big bang to now continues to bewilder me. "Mind" may play an "of the gaps" game here but it's the only reasonable explanation that currently makes some semblance of sense to me.
So currently I agree with the religious on your last point. Machines or AI cannot be conscious. Maybe if they were infused with some sort of biological material though I would say maybe. If our subjective experience is a localization of a thing called "consciousness" and certain forms (humans, animals) localize it to produce a sense of self then why not.
The fact that we're not all unconscious automatons that just evolved from one long cause-effect chain stemming from the big bang to now continues to bewilder me. "Mind" may play an "of the gaps" game here but it's the only reasonable explanation that currently makes some semblance of sense to me.
So currently I agree with the religious on your last point. Machines or AI cannot be conscious. Maybe if they were infused with some sort of biological material though I would say maybe. If our subjective experience is a localization of a thing called "consciousness" and certain forms (humans, animals) localize it to produce a sense of self then why not.