Computer consciousness

Switzerland
September 25, 2007 3:30pm CST
Im really not sure how to describe this. How do you feel about "Consciousness". I believe my brain works the way it has evolved to, in that the chemicals and nervous reactions allow it to convey an image of the world around me that is simplified to where I can be alive and further ensure the survival of the species. What im thinking about is how well my brain does it, in that I feel "alive". I dont feel like a computer that just accepts various inputs (from the senses, for example) and then acts accordingly. I feel as if I am making intelligent descisions. I feel that I am a person, not just a collection of atoms. At the end of the day I know that is all I am, a series of atoms and chemicals that is designed to work in a particular way. Surely if I feel like this, other things but have consciousness too... its a bit of a long shot but if dogs, cats, mice, insects, etc, ever increasingly small and less complicated beings show the same level of self awareness as we do, whose to say computers dont have consciousness? I know the most powerful super computer in the world isnt as advanced as even the smallest most undeveloped fish in the sea, but it cant be long ( usb, mouse, keyboard. These various inputs are 'read' by the processor in a similar way to our brains accepting info from our senses. I mean, sight and hearing are both processed by our brain. Hearing is simply the reaction of our eardrums to the movement of air particles, vision is merely the reaction of our eyes to the movement of photons. Theyre both physical inputs, but are decoded by our brains, much the same way as a computer decodes the series of 1's and 0's from a USB mouse or the way it takes the analogue signal from a microphone and converts it into binary for processing. It is taking the information present and converting it into a format it can understand. We do the same -- air particle movement into electrical inpluses. So, are computers concious? They are still very very primitive but show, in my eyes, the same basic features as any other 'concious' organism on the planet. If not, where is the point where a machine/collection of molecules changes from passive to conscious?
1 person likes this
No responses