> if sentient AI is possible with nothing more than software, does that mean if
> you "load" the sentient AI program into a "computer" made of cardboard and
> marbles, that the cardboard and marbles will be self-aware?
fwiw, quote from moon-is-a-harsh-mistress:
Am not going to argue whether a machine can "really" be alive,
"really" be self-aware. Is a virus self-aware? Nyet. How about oyster? I
doubt it. A cat? Almost certainly. A human? Don't know about you,
tovarishch, but I am. Somewhere along evolutionary chain from
macromolecule to human brain self-awareness crept in. Psychologists
assert it happens automatically whenever a brain acquires certain very
high number of associational paths. Can't see it matters whether paths
are protein or platinum.
fwiw, quote from moon-is-a-harsh-mistress:
Am not going to argue whether a machine can "really" be alive, "really" be self-aware. Is a virus self-aware? Nyet. How about oyster? I doubt it. A cat? Almost certainly. A human? Don't know about you, tovarishch, but I am. Somewhere along evolutionary chain from macromolecule to human brain self-awareness crept in. Psychologists assert it happens automatically whenever a brain acquires certain very high number of associational paths. Can't see it matters whether paths are protein or platinum.