Philosophy Now Forum

Beyond Life
We may well be approaching the time when robots will be walking the earth and it will be impossible to decide, at least externally, whether they are sapient beings or biological constructions.
They may be made organically, or even constructed like machines.
p**** them and they will react as we do.
Ask any question and they will provide answers that may be entirely new.
Will we the have to assume they are ‘alive’.
Or, beyond that, they are sensate and conscious of themselves and their environment.
How will that last be proved false or correct.
Will we meet another human being and not be sure what it is.
If the machine has all our emotions, as well as sensation, will it be entirely “human”.
We cannot require the presence of a ‘soul’ unless we first determine what a soul is.
Merely a term that expresses humanity. Or a term that relates to something in addition to ‘DNA’.
We cannot assume it exists unless we can find it, or find where it must be as a component.
[There was a time when dogs were deemed to have no souls and dissected like unfeeling clockwork.]
To show that they think is inadequate if it does not involve the conscious mind.
I can get no further than suggesting that all that exists springs from elementary values that relate together and have nothing prior.

RWStanding wrote: ↑Mon Feb 04, 2019 3:06 pm We may well be approaching the time when robots will be walking the earth and it will be impossible to decide, at least externally, whether they are sapient beings or biological constructions.

Depends who's doing the deciding.

Will we the have to assume they are ‘alive’.
Or, beyond that, they are sensate and conscious of themselves and their environment.
How will that last be proved false or correct.

We've not proved any of that for ourselves yet, so proof for them is likely not forthcoming.

If the machine has all our emotions, as well as sensation, will it be entirely “human”.

That I seriously doubt. I'd be disappointed if all they could do was imitate a human. It would be like us trying to imitate a goat. I think the goats can tell the difference, but that doesn't mean that we haven't surpassed them in certain ways.

2001 was a great movie (philosophical) - and in it Hall showed more humanity than the humans - fear of being "killed" by Dave (after killing Frank).

but guard against anthropomorphism. Turing Test/artifical inteligence is not concienciousness.

its simulated aliveness.

nothing more - so your beloved computer that seems alive with personality/humour - via programing to seem alive and interact - is just a mindless dolled up toaster.

unpluging it is not killing it.

Colossis and Guardian may disagree, but no matter.