[LINK] Machine Learning Was: Re: Robot cars and the fear gap
Frank O'Connor
francisoconnor3 at bigpond.com
Wed Jul 27 21:19:52 AEST 2016
Mmmm,
There’s a BIG difference between the two.
It could even be argued that a single (although complex) celled amoeba is sentient - it possesses the necessary sensory capabilities to appreciate the world around it, and it is capable of movement to avoid light - responding to stimuli, as well as autonomic functioning, so on a REALLY rudimentary level it may have a sense of self and demonstrably ‘feels’ so is therefore technically sentient. So there are huge degrees of sentience as well. At a biological level, effectively the rule seems to be more complex your nervous system the more sentient you are.
It’s all a matter of how you are capable of perceiving the world. If one judges the whole thing on scent, dogs are the most sentient beings on the planet, sight … well, the avian raptors probably have that one covered, sound … well, I’m looking at you Mr Whale or Dolphin.
But sapience … the ability to symbolise, and think, and problem solve, assess alternatives, predict and control … tends to require a rather large and dynamic brain and the associated mnemonic capability to first store and then interconnect all the prior experiences, education and knowledge you have absorbed.
I think computers are likely to develop into sapience before sentience … which may be problematic - as this whole discussion so far points to.
Just my 2 cents worth …
---
> On 27 Jul 2016, at 3:32 PM, JanW <jwhit at internode.on.net> wrote:
>
> At 03:06 PM 27/07/2016, Jim Birch wrote:
>
>> Maybe in your case. My cat is certainly conscious - i.e. aware of and
>> responding to it's surroundings - but doesn't do a lot of symbols.
>
> We were discussing this very thing yesterday --- sapient versus sentient. Animals are sentient. Humans are sapient as well.
>
> Machines - not so much. Although IBM is working on one.
>
> Jan
>
>
> I write books. http://janwhitaker.com/?page_id=8
>
> Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
> jwhit at janwhitaker.com
> Twitter: <https://twitter.com/JL_Whitaker>JL_Whitaker
> Blog: www.janwhitaker.com
>
> Some psychopaths become serial killers, and other psychopaths become prosecutors. - Bob Ruff, Truth and Justice, June 2016
>
> Sooner or later, I hate to break it to you, you're gonna die, so how do you fill in the space between here and there? It's yours. Seize your space.
> ~Margaret Atwood, writer
>
> _ __________________ _
> _______________________________________________
> Link mailing list
> Link at mailman.anu.edu.au
> http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
More information about the Link
mailing list