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It's still at the tech nerd / tinkering phase, and not really ready for the general public, but several robots have been on the market in recent years that will interact with you, read you the news, amuse the children with games, patrol the house at night, etc. They are only vaguely humanoid, on wheels instead of legs, with a screen for a face.
There is at least one fairly impressive online AI that will have conversations with you that is going for the best-friend vibe.
It does seem that at least some people are willing to make such creations part of their family in a manner similar to pets.
I do not consider them sentient, but then I do not think people have a very high bar set for what constitutes sentience. They are willing to project more onto such devices than they actually are capable of. That speaks IMO to what people project on their gods as well, BTW.
While I might mess with such a device for fun (I'm a software developer), I think substituting these things for relationships with actual people or even pets may prove unhealthy for most of us.
It's still at the tech nerd / tinkering phase, and not really ready for the general public, but several robots have been on the market in recent years that will interact with you, read you the news, amuse the children with games, patrol the house at night, etc. They are only vaguely humanoid, on wheels instead of legs, with a screen for a face.
There is at least one fairly impressive online AI that will have conversations with you that is going for the best-friend vibe.
It does seem that at least some people are willing to make such creations part of their family in a manner similar to pets.
I do not consider them sentient, but then I do not think people have a very high bar set for what constitutes sentience. They are willing to project more onto such devices than they actually are capable of. That speaks IMO to what people project on their gods as well, BTW.
While I might mess with such a device for fun (I'm a software developer), I think substituting these things for relationships with actual people or even pets may prove unhealthy for most of us.
Regardless how advanced, these robotic " friends " are still just glorified coffee makers
Regardless how advanced, these robotic " friends " are still just glorified coffee makers
Rather highly glorified if it can do household maintenance or file your taxes for you. But yes, and what concerns me is that if they get to a certain level of sophistication like that and a new generation rises up that knows nothing else, they will think they are equivalent to human friends in much the same way that my stepdaughter in her teens thought having a couple hundred FaceBook friends meant she had that many actual friends.
Rather highly glorified if it can do household maintenance or file your taxes for you. But yes, and what concerns me is that if they get to a certain level of sophistication like that and a new generation rises up that knows nothing else, they will think they are equivalent to human friends in much the same way that my stepdaughter in her teens thought having a couple hundred FaceBook friends meant she had that many actual friends.
We seem to be drifting away from true intimacy ( into me see )
It's still at the tech nerd / tinkering phase, and not really ready for the general public, but several robots have been on the market in recent years that will interact with you, read you the news, amuse the children with games, patrol the house at night, etc. They are only vaguely humanoid, on wheels instead of legs, with a screen for a face.
There is at least one fairly impressive online AI that will have conversations with you that is going for the best-friend vibe.
It does seem that at least some people are willing to make such creations part of their family in a manner similar to pets.
I do not consider them sentient, but then I do not think people have a very high bar set for what constitutes sentience. They are willing to project more onto such devices than they actually are capable of. That speaks IMO to what people project on their gods as well, BTW.
While I might mess with such a device for fun (I'm a software developer), I think substituting these things for relationships with actual people or even pets may prove unhealthy for most of us.
I've seen some blow up dolls apparently going for that best-friend vibe too...
I've seen some blow up dolls apparently going for that best-friend vibe too...
Oh yes and there are companies working on more realistic automatons for sexual use and there will doubtless be people who will "fall in love" with them and "marry" them. It already happens in Japan, where lonely men become attached to cartoon characters they can summon online.
It is sad; they basically have decided that they only want "relationships" with "persons" that never find them irritating or hurtful and can be, metaphorically and soon literally, switched off and left standing in a closet when they are not convenient to interact with. If hope had been so overcome by experience for me I would simply not attempt to have relationships. I guess they are keeping their delusions alive or something, but it's beyond creepy and dysfunctional to me.
AFAIK 99.9% of the market for such things is with men, which is ... instructive.
Regardless how advanced, these robotic " friends " are still just glorified coffee makers
Yes, many are, it depends on their architecture. But if one can not say why animals are sentient while robots are not, then one can not really argue that robots can never be sentient.
And if sufficiently complex robots can be sentient, then they would also have rights, something some religious people would deny them because they allegedly have no soul.
Yes, many are, it depends on their architecture. But if one can not say why animals are sentient while robots are not, then one can not really argue that robots can never be sentient.
And if sufficiently complex robots can be sentient, then they would also have rights, something some religious people would deny them because they allegedly have no soul.
So what is the difference between man made sentience, vs that which sprouts up organically?
So what is the difference between man made sentience, vs that which sprouts up organically?
Or is there a difference?
That is the big question, we do not know at this time how animals are sentient. But if neural networks can do things our brains can (facial recognition, decision making, make predictions), then why should they not be able to have sentience?
That is the big question, we do not know at this time how animals are sentient. But if neural networks can do things our brains can (facial recognition, decision making, make predictions), then why should they not be able to have sentience?
Agreed. The general assumption among AI researchers seems to have been that at some tipping-point of system sophistication and speed, recognizably human sentience just sort of emerges organically. But it has been one of those things that is always 10 or 20 years away, no matter what year it is. In my view the hangup is that the brain is not that functionally analogous with digital computers, plus, humans and animals are embodied consciousnesses, and so I do not think you will get a very relatable sentience from a discarnate mind.
Still, I think that there's no reason to assume that eventually, machine sentience will not be a reality. And I agree with you that at that point they should be afforded rights that should go to any sentient being. I also agree with you that Christian fundamentalists would fight this tooth and nail on the basis that it's "unnatural", and yes, suggests that their concept of "soul" and/or "spirit" are bogus.
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