> [...] The notion of the sentient being is directly related to the
> 'singularity' when machines readily attain human or greater
> intelligences. At what point are the machines awarded the rights of
> "persons". This topic is heavily the subject of science fiction [Bruce
Uh, I think rather usurped, than awarded. Whether such entities (artilects
in de Garis' terms) will award _us_ the status of a sentient being is imo
much more interesting. Fair deal strategies emerge amoung roughly
equivalent players solely. Once symmetry gets skewed enough, the
negligeable player stops having impact on strategy coevolution. Same
darwinian theatre for the artilects assuming, subsequent maximization of
artilect habitat expansion does not forebode well for mehums.
I find this religious debate about abortion highly interesting in aspect
to the ethics calculus.
> Sterling, Greg Eagen, Jean Mark Gawron etc] and at the a focal point of
> several Extropian beams. -Jay [...]
'gene