For example, it may be my hypothesis that modern computers work through the agency of evil demons. You could spend a lot of time trying discussing with me how this hypothesis could be put to the test empirically. But it may be that this is not a disagreement that scientific inquiry is likely to resolve.

So too, I think, with "intelligence" or "consciousness".

What people are actually concerned about is economic impact, and we can have a fruitful debate over economic impact without discussing "intelligence" or "consciousness".