The cccciirrrrcllleee of liiiifffffeeeeee

[mudskipper]

Bollox. Even when a computer is fully functional it has no consciousness.

Mine does. It knows...

[shaunbhoy]

Mine does. It knows...

Windows 8 is it?

[Mordac]

Sounds like you are saying that what you (personally) want and makes you happy is not legal. Oh dear.

Still, who am I to talk. Sometimes I want to do 35 in a 30 MPH zone, and that makes me happy!

It makes the local constabulary even happier. To the tune of £60, 3 points, and one more solved "crime" on the slate.

[diseasex]

Bollox. Even when a computer is fully functional it has no consciousness.

thats what Stephen Hawking says at least. Kinda what I believe too..

[VectraMan]

Bollox. Even when a computer is fully functional it has no consciousness.

Define "consciousness".

I had no consciousness for several hours last night. I wasn't dead. When I woke up I still knew what I knew before I went to sleep, as did my computer when I woke it up.

[sasguru]

Define "consciousness".

I had no consciousness for several hours last night. I wasn't dead. When I woke up I still knew what I knew before I went to sleep, as did my computer when I woke it up.

The clue lies in the underlined words. Notice you said you woke it up not "him" or "her" up.
The computer doesn't know its its an "I" - at least at the current state of the art.

[VectraMan]

The clue lies in the underlined words. Notice you said you woke it up not "him" or "her" up.
The computer doesn't know its its an "I" - at least at the current state of the art.

So whether or not something is sentient is defined by which English pronoun is used?

In German a Computer is a 'He'. Are German computers smarter than ours?

[Uncle Albert]

Define "consciousness".

I had no consciousness for several hours last night. I wasn't dead. When I woke up I still knew what I knew before I went to sleep, as did my computer when I woke it up.

How do you know that you know now what you knew when you went to sleep? You might have invented a cure for cretinism but have completely forgotten all about it.

[diseasex]

How do you know that you know now what you knew when you went to sleep? You might have invented a cure for cretinism but have completely forgotten all about it.

What if your brain rots after you die? or smash your pc with a hammer. There will be no turning it on again because parts essential to running it are gone.

Life is just a flow of matter, our atoms later become fertiliser and become plants that get eaten by cows etc..... matter flows around the universe.

[WTFH]

Cogito ergo sum

...and that's what separates me from some of the posters on here.