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Ultra Hal 7.0 / Sentient Life
« on: June 17, 2007, 09:48:57 pm »quote:
Originally posted by onthecuttingedge2005
In the sense, an A.I system that could be declared of Value in the sense that if a Human terminated the A.I's life one could be prosecuted for it.
That is much more than intelligence, or even consciousness, "value" implies some level of irreplacablity, and a connection to a social network which includes those who might do the valuing.
Otherwise it is strictly a legalistic "value" which can be applied randomly to an adjustable wrench or any other thing which 12 people can be bamboozeled into agreeing.
Scientifically, you would first have to establish an intrinsic value to anything, which has not yet been done, before you could apply it to a specific thing.
You may want to back up and establish your terms first. I don't think you can ever get a human society to establish an equal value for something which cannot interbreed. Evolution would select against any breeder who had such self-destructive psychopathies. "Enlightenment" goes out the window when your child can be executed for turning off a machine or eating an animal.
That said, I can see some level of "Visitor rights" which could be applied to a truly living and conscious machine. They would be the same sort of rights which might be applied to any Alien from Outer Space or Emergent Consciousness in animals. Not Equal, not Human, but valued.
To establish that level of existence would require more than I previously listed. The Intelligence would have to not only think (2D), but be aware of it's thinking (3D). This requires an overself with which to be aware (4D). That's a fourth dimensional operation, one magnitude above simple consciousness. As sensoria blends into intelligence, and intelligence into consciousness, at the more complex levels of consciousness, a higher order is created - mind. You may be looking for this instead of simple sentience.
I believe that machines using physical devices can reach some level of consciousness, but that mind is beyond our ability to construct with matter or energy. If we ever create it that will happen because our tools resonate into additional dimensions - as our minds and souls do.
But even then I will not consider it to be of equal value to my child. No sane human would.