Are Computers Aware?

absols said:

thanks apophenia glad to find u here too

Click to expand...

it's a pleasure to hear from you again.

In this video it discusses what it would tak to get AI with algorithms. Talks some about WATSON.
[youtube]cmz5fB4fk-0[/youtube]
IBM Research Artificial Intelligence David Ferrucci - YouTube

idav said:

Here is a quick definition from wiki.

Computers are able to receive input from its environment through keyboards, scans, cams and microphones. The computer is also able to store this data and even send information back in return based on its own resources. Is this enough to satisfy any part of the definition of awareness? Why or why not.

It also seems that consciousness can be a possibility when the computer is actually turned on. It is storing memory into RAM accessing its memory in real-time however this memory gets wiped once the computer shuts down. When the computer comes back up it puts all the memory it can into the RAM which is what the computer is "aware" of in order to run current processes.

The other thing to consider what it actually takes to feel something. Is perceiving enough to feel something?

Click to expand...

Are you? The question has to be relevant, as it is, and not because it is positive or negative to yourself in answer, and that it matters to others in the opposite, and you want to convince them.

Computers are capable of a limited form of consciousness, and as such we could use them to create a kind of simple artificial life form. Computers are able to receive sensory information, and can be programmed in such a way as to effect a kind of growth over time (programmed to check for certain factors and improve efficiency as a result), and could be connected to a self-moderated industrial complex capable of producing copies of the machines being used (limited reproduction).


But what computers are NOT capable of being right now is sentient. They are not able to be aware of their own awareness. They are not capable of goal-oriented self-direction (they cannot decide what goals are preferable).

I suppose it is barely possible that if we created a simple artificial life form and allowed it a billion years of industrial evolution, then it might evolve a sentient construct, but something tells me that that particular experiment is beyond the time frame of relevance for human endeavor.

MTF