I think, therefore I am, but is thinking enough? More to the point, are your thoughts real? What in fact constitutes a real thought and a simulated one; is there a line between the two, or is it blurred into insignificance?
I feel these questions are important at this juncture in our history. We are creating more and more powerful software, able to carry out tasks of increasing complexity.
One day we may not be able to tell the difference between us and thinking machines. The question therefore is; will there be any difference between us and them?
Emulation The Sincerest Form Of Flattery
As a few knowledgeable Steemians amongst you have pointed out to me, we are in fact nowhere near true machine sentience.
Even our most complex computers and software algorithms, are at a deep level, very simple, and definitely unthinking. A computer can process billions of very small, very simple events every second, this gives rise to some amazing results. But not thinking . . .
There is lots to indicate that thinking computers; if they are to think at all, will not come about by simply increasing the power of our current computers.
A new Steemian that I've recently had the pleasure to meet; @quillfire, turned me onto an article called; Planes don’t flap their wings: does AI work like a brain?, which I read with great interest.
The general gist of the piece was that often when we try and replicate nature, we start off by trying to replicate every aspect of it. However the author points out that aeroplanes don't flap their wings, yet they fly just fine.
So, the general consensus is just like aeroplanes and birds, when machines finally get to the point whereby we can't tell the difference, between them and another sentient mind. It will be via completely different, and as-yet-unknown devices.
In other words, they won't be thinking as we classify thinking, but they will be doing something. The question arising is; is emulation just as good as the real thing?
Ghosts And Black Mirrors
The English comedian Charlie Brooker, is the creator of the dark, near-future, dystopian Black Mirror. A TV show which explores some of the possible upcoming ethical dilemmas that human society may find itself in sooner than we think.
Brooker often poses the question; if something isn't actually alive, yet believes it is alive; is that not the same as actually being alive?
What if what we're doing isn't really thinking? Imagine we are all in a complex simulation, run by god-like aliens. They too have realised that in order to create artificial sentience, they will have to tweak nature slightly, and we are the product.
It's been shown via various brain scans and studies, that some decisions that seem instant to us, happen up to six seconds in the brain before we're conscious of them.
Six Seconds!
So perhaps it's not too much of a leap to think we are in a controlled simulation. Maybe we're flattering ourselves, and it's not actually part of an experiment to create sentience, rather we're part of some alien kid's video game. Completely unaware of the fact that we're playing the same scenes out over and over again, with only slightly different outcomes.
Maybe we are not classed as truly alive by the aliens.
Does that make us any less alive?
I feel alive, the people and things around me feel real; does it make it any less so if it is a simulation?
What if all the characters in Grand Theft Auto 5 started believing they were real?
Would we be able to say they weren't truly alive?
Self Aware
Surely that's what is encapsulated by the term I think, therefore I am.
I think, and I am.
The code will think, and it will be . . .
Fun Fact: Charlie Brooker came up with the name for the hit series Black Mirror, while staring at his ipad after he had turned it off.
Further Reading:
Planes don’t flap their wings: does AI work like a brain?
Killing Off Cryptogee's Fantasy Girlfriend >>> Is AI Even Possible in Non-Biological Entities?
Related Musings:
Having Babies - The Secret Life Of An AI
Parents To The Gods - Creating A Digital Species
Cryptogee Musings Table Of Contents - #1
WHAT DO YOU THINK? IS BEING ALIVE MERELY A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE? ALL THOUGHT AN ILLUSION? AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!