Indeed, algorithms, in themselves, never ascertain truth! It would be as easy to make an algorithm produce nothing but falsehoods as it would be to make it produce truths. One needs external insights in order to decide the validity or otherwise of an algorithm (more about this later). I am putting forward the argument here that it is this ability to divine (or ‘intuit’) truth from falsity (and beauty from ugliness!), in appropriate circumstances, that is the hallmark of consciousness.
