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LostInParadise's avatar

If a robot could be programmed to act in a way indistinguishable from human behavior, would you say it has consciousness?

Asked by LostInParadise (31914points) August 19th, 2014

This is a scaling up of the Turing test. Suppose a robot could be programmed with a distinct personality. It would have a particular political viewpoint and have preferences for certain forms of music and books. It would give the outward appearance of showing emotions. If you have ever seen Spielberg’s movie AI, that is the kind of thing I have in mind. Would you say that the robot is conscious? Does it really feel emotions?

I say if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it is a duck. If you have no way of distinguishing the behavior from consciousness then it is consciousness. Conjecturing what the robot “truly feels” is pointless.

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