Have you ever had a car that did any peculiar things?
Have you ever thought that you car was running when it ought not to be?
Seemingly, simply because you needed it to?
How about your computer?
Have you ever given a machine a name?
Maybe, you've developed an affinity for a machine,
and felt you were abandoning it when you moved on.
Maybe you've even grieved for a machine.
I was five years old when my father was in an accident
which totaled the family car, I cried, for the car.
I was five. I knew the car was a machine,
but felt it to be a member of the family.
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Our psychological processes often fool us
into believing that objects have the same qualities
that make us uniquely human.
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As machines become more complex we will undoubtedly,
psychologically imbue them with an increasing amount of
consciously and unconsciously anticipated human qualities.
Our brains are so good at doing this,
that we may cease to notice or understand the difference.
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I see people pushing their pets around in baby carriages.
How long until our machines are more complex than our pets?
Could it be that it has already happened?
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I'm not sure that my cat knows who I am,
as much as I think he knows which one I am.
My computer doesn't know which one I am.
It only reacts to it's inputs, design and programming.
I've not yet met a computer with conscious recognition.
How far away is that really, from happening?
It may be, that it will never happen.
It may be, that it already has.
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The simulation of it may soon become so close to the real thing
as to be indistinguishable.
This still is only the perfect deception.
The perfect deception is still not truth.
That is just for animals.
How long before machines are indistinguishable from humans?
It sounds crazy, but be sure to let me know when you see someone
pushing their computer around in a carriage. It will happen.
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Have you ever heard anyone call their car their “baby”?
It will be similar to digital pets,
or the psychology experiment, egg project from high school health class.
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I thought I was unique in that I sometimes treat non-living objects as if they have feelings.
I think it comes from a drive to understand the world. If we can turn it into ourself, or ourself into it, we can fit it into the framework of our comprehension. This drive also allows us to exercise our capacity for compassion and empathy, and even to contemplate the value of the objects that facilitate our lives.
outstanding article!. truthfully Ive observed conscious behavior in animals. my dog for example is highly aware of the inferences of human language and being just a puppy still she knows words like bunny, and dinner, also understands concepts of play and behavior, mind you food for canines is always a motivation to learn. that said I've never really caught on to the idea of pushing my dog around in a stroller. however it would not surprise me if people cuddle up to a mechanical one, it seems to make sense that people would like to have some sort of plush mechanical creature to cuddle. still id never give up the joys that my dog has brought... the problem with mechanical things is that they loose novelty very quickly. where as dogs and other creatures are more appealing because they are capable of affection and love. a machine consious or not may not have the faculty to feel emotion. it simply lacks the neurological components which humans are yet to fully understand.
I agree, though I'm not sure that the only thing that humans and animals share, that machines lack, is emotion.
Animals do exhibit creativity. If you've ever seen a dog or cat play by themselves, when they think they are unobserved, you know what I mean. Machines, unless they are set to a task, when we walk away from them, all they do is sit and wait. I guarantee that your dog, whenever you are out of it's sight, is bursting with desire for your return. A machine can't do anything of the sort except simulate this. There are probably more things, but I'm still sorting this out.