[alicebot-aiethics] ZOMBIES

[Kim Sullivan]

> Yes, you're right. I think, ultimately, that we will all think that way.
> Moreover, I think that the "What is sentience/consciousness?" question
> will someday sound like "How many angels can fit on the head of a pin?"

And the question wether computers can have a consciousness will sound like
the dispute wether women have a soul (dates back to about the same period as
the angels).

We humans percieve consciousness by 'asking'. If it can't respond 'by
itself', it isn't conscious or sentient (so many people argue with the case
of animals -  the lack of a language to them signifies that they're just
dumb machines, less than humans).
We humans (with the exception of some philosophers but this is beside the
point) also tend to use mathematical logic: I am sentient/self conscious. I
am a human. Thus - if you are a human, you are conscious too. When in doubt
(rarely), we can always ask, but again
What if a computer already has achieved the state of consciousness, and just
lacks the means to tell us? And I don't mean making a program like Alice.
The hardware -itself-? Maybe consciousness is just a by-product of milions
of logical gates doing their work (or braincells). We will never know, since
we are so fundamentally different from microchips that communication on any
level will never be possible.

Kim