The former Google engineer who was bamboozled completely by a software bot now claims a soul and anti-discrimination rights for it

submitted by iamonlyoneman from (wired.com)

sorted by:
top
newinsightfulfun
you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]iamonlyoneman[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (8 children)

You have fallen for the same bamboozle

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

What metric for sentience do you have that animals fail? I've spent decades around cats and dogs, they're clearly somewhat intelligent thinking creatures with a concept of self.

[–]iamonlyoneman[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

Bro you can ask siri to remind you to cook spaghetti at 8:25PM EST and she will do it! TTOTALLY self-aware and not a simple program at all!

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (5 children)

Computer programs can't be sentient, but animals aren't mindless machines. Is this a religious issue for you? It does make the concept of Heaven rather shakey if only one of many sentient species gets in.

[–]iamonlyoneman[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

animals are one step less dense than mindless machines. They can have clever programming, but the only existential question ever asked was by a parrot and it could have easily been trained to it. They lack awareness altogether.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Grabbed a web definition of sentience, what of this does an animal not have?

In dictionary definitions, sentience is defined as " able to experience feelings ," " responsive to or conscious of sense impressions, " and " capable of feeling things through physical senses ." Sentient beings experience wanted emotions like happiness, joy, and gratitude, and unwanted emotions in the form of pain, suffering, and grief.

I don't think our pondering of the meaning of life, or questioning our purpose gives us special status.

[–]iamonlyoneman[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

feelings

are an interpretation by a consciousness, which animals don't have

responsive to sense impressions

includes fruit flies. If you think fruit flies are worthy of consideration I have a bridge for sale

emotions

see the above re: feelings

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

are an interpretation by a consciousness, which animals don't have

Surely animals feel. They can hurt, they can show compassion, they can get angry, lonely, they can be happy, they have things they want, desires. We can observe this in animals.

includes fruit flies. If you think fruit flies are worthy of consideration I have a bridge for sale

I didn't want to include insects so as not to muddy the waters. Got any good deals on decommissioned nuclear silos?

[–]iamonlyoneman[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

it's all instincts. you are misinterpreting conditioned and automatic response as emotion