> to accept that they are programmed entities. Our mythology tells us that
> we aren't, and you have to break through that programming before you can
> start on anything else.
This is a good point. I also think that the difficulty is more complicated
than 'erasing old tapes' - although that's a great psychological advantage.
The real dilemma is we do not fully understand the programming instructions
already there, (although encouraging leaps have been made recently, in neuro
bio. & cog. sci. ) so we do not fully understand how to program new ones.
This is one reason why AI is so facinating.
Regarding ego ( Ego) and bliss... the so called 'spiritual ( which I beleive
is just another part of our brain's inner working) bliss' of letting go of
the ego ( awareness of the separation between self and reality) is well
known. An interesting topic. It seems to be hardwired into many humans. Some
religions claim that this is letting in "god".
I think it is important in an evolutionary sense, regarding consciousness.
In the Emotional Computer thread, the type of emotions ( instructions of a
level of say, a lower animal's emotions) "easily programmed" into computers
were not compex enough to be useful to cognition at any level i could
understand, unless just as a starting point.
This "Ego" would be a good emotion to program into an A I.