In this video from Coldfustion TV, we see an example of self-awareness in a robot. Does this mean consciousness? If it does mean consciousness, is that the same thing as human consciousness, or is there still a difference?
Leave a comment to let us know what you think.
[“Us” means Micheal Palmer and all of the readers of this blog.]
In this 2016 episode of the Singulary Weblog, Nikola Danaylov (Socrates) interviews Professor Richard Jones about the arguments he put forward in Against Transhumanism: The delusion of technological transcendence. The discussion that ensues between the two of them is well worth overhearing.
The two discuss a wide range of topics, including Dr. Jones’ work in nanotechnology, his book on that topic (Soft Machines: Nanotechnology and Life), his blog by the same title, whether or not technological progress is accelerating, transhumanism and its origins, technological determinism, physics, Frank J. Tipler‘s claim that “the singularity is inevitable”, the importance of molecules as the most fundamental units of biological processing, Aubrey de Grey‘s quest for the indefinite extension of life, the importance of ethics and politics in the road ahead for AI and other aspects of technological advancement, and several others topics.
The episode lasts 1 hour and 17 minutes. Enjoy!
In this TED Talk, Sebastian Thrun and Chris Anderson discuss advances in computer power and the radical shift from software engineers writing extensive rules for computers to machines inferring their own rules.
In this 20 minute program from Tech Insider, Neil deGrasse Tyson interviews Ray Kurzweil, one of today’s foremost transhumanists. They discuss Kurzweil’s proposal that we will reach a technological singularity by 2029.
