There is a saying that we provide the machines with an end, and they provide us with the means. - Iain Banks

~ Want to know one ugly thought?
~ Are there not enough in the world already?
~ Assuredly. But sometimes ugly thoughts can be prevented from becoming ugly deeds by exposing them.
~ If you say so.
~ One should always ask who has most to gain.

I think that humanity is just too tied up with the physical, anchored into the setting, if you like; who you are is actually about your entire position within the world you inhabit. Consciousness is like an abstract of that framework, it’s not just the bit in your head. AIs, yes; almost a given. I find it hard to understand that anyone could argue that you can’t have machines that exhibit consciousness; it’s a weird attitude unless you subscribe to the superstition that you have to have a supernatural soul to exhibit consciousness. Saying that the material world is incapable of forming a substrate for sentience or intelligence seems nonsense to me. We, as human beings, are made up of matter, and we exhibit intelligence (well… but anyway). We start from nothing bigger than a sperm and an egg, after all, and then just have lots more matter added. It’s astonishing and wonderful, and we in a sense, rightly talk about the miracle of birth. But for goodness’ sake, ultimately it’s just evolution and applied biochemistry. I believe matter can provide a home for consciousness—it seems perverse to argue that only biology is capable of this.

The person concerned sounds – to be polite – eccentric."
"That would be polite to the point of over-generosity," Tefwe said. "Awkward, tetchy and unreasonable might be closer to the truth.