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You know, I really don't get this whole transhumanism stuff. An AI (or SI) that emulates your personality, even if it's uploaded with your memories, emotions, attitudes etc. IMO will still be nothing but a simulation, not the real thing. It may act and sound intelligent, but IMO it won't be self-aware. No reason to get excited about that, because it won't be you. It might even not be itself (=aware of its existence), just mindlessly processing data and following a program.

 

Until a few years ago, being a scifi fan, I was quite intrigued by the possibilty that AIs might some day develop consciousness, but since then I've observed and read about quite a few things that strongly indicate that we are just a bit more than biological machines and that consciousness might not be exclusively neurochemical processes.Which in turn should mean that machines, however complicated and sophisticated, will always be just a bit less than conscious beings. Unless what I would call my hypothetical "outside source of consciousness" is capable of emerging in machines, that is.

 

I admit that I don't want to be just a biological machine, but there was a time when I was totally nihilistic about that. We're nothing but sophisticated animals, biological robots, and when we die, nothing remains etc. etc. Life sucks, so what. But with tiny bits of evidence coming in on what really seems a regular basis, and amounting to some astonishing observations, I'm thinking less and less that I'm just fooling myself.


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