Questions tagged [sentience]
23 questions
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What are the differences between sentience, consciousness and awareness?
Dictionary definitions such as this one often seem to use the terms sentience, awareness, and consciousness as if they are synonymous with each other. Is this really the case? If not, how do they differ? Some books suggest that sentience and…
coleopterist
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At what point can a being be said to have gained sentience?
It's pretty much universally accepted that healthy humans have sentience, but that's where the agreement stops. Many would say that complex animals have sentience, such as dogs, cats, cows, sheep, etc. But what about a mouse, an ant, or a…
Jez
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If you know something has the potential to be sentient is it unethical to intentionally prevent it from gaining sentience?
In Star Trek TNG, TOS and Voyager they at some point debate what sentience is and what makes a person a person.
Picard with Data/Moriarty, Janeway with The Doctor/holos, Kirk and Spock with the Horta and Sisko with the equality of people and the…
TheIcePhoenix
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How are the actions of conscious beings interpreted in terms of cause and effect?
When there's inanimate objects such as two billiard balls, we determine that ball C is the cause of Ball D's movement if C collides with D and shoves it. In addition, because ball C is an inanimate object, we consider that it cannot have moved…
user3776022
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What are the minimum necessary and sufficient conditions for something to be considered sentient?
The answer to Could a sentient machine suffer? suggests that
The ability to suffer would not seem to be a necessary condition for sentience
This made me wonder what the minimum necessary and sufficient conditions for something to be considered…
dorzey
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Can a Philosophical Zombie realize that itself has no Qualia?
So, ok, it's by definition impossible for an outsider to spot a philosophical zombie, but could a philosophical zombie introspectively look inside itself and realize that it has no qualia?
Paulo Raposo
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How satisfactory is the idea that software creates or leads to sentience?
Researchers including Synthetic Genomics have made incredible advances, but in doing so, have also made a powerful philosophical contribution to how we (as ordinary people) view life itself. We now live in a world where DNA has been written by man,…
AlanSE
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Does the possession of mind imply sentience and vice versa?
Definitions
I'm aware that there are differences in usage for 'sentience', 'consciousness', and 'awareness' as broadly covered (PhilSE)
So:
This question considers 'sentience' as the ability to have sensual perception.
This question considers the…
Erdel von Mises
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Man's Relation to AI vs. God's Relation to Man
I have been a hacker and programmer since I was 14 and I have done advanced education and research in Artificial Intelligence. We all know that we do not yet have a computer entity that is "truly" intelligent since all have to conform to their…
GµårÐïåñ
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Can artificially intelligent machines ever become sentient?
To those posting opinionated comments or answers (i.e. not factual research), please first describe your perspective of sentience and artificially intelligent machines - this is not the same as their definitions. Because this question is broad,…
Jason
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What would Dawkins say about other minds?
If asked questions about other minds, how would/does he respond, and does/would he nest his response in physical science and reductionist/determinist models? Does he say that their existence is easily demonstrated? Doesn't need to be demonstrated?…
Jonathan Dunn
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The Leibniz - Turing Dilemma
The Turing Test is basically the idea that when (a) computer and a human can't be differentiated, that computer is an AI.
Identity of Indiscernibles boils down to if A is indistinguishable from B then A = B
Suppose now that AI is…
Agent Smith
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What is the difference between appearing to be sentient and able to make personal subjective statements and being sentient
It is not long that some will suppose AI has become alive but we must question, what is the difference between appearing sentient and able to act out of one's own will and able to make personal subjective statements such as, 'I Believe!', and being…
Willtech
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What is the theory of defining consciousness by the ability to use counterfactuals called?
I'm aware there are a number of ways of defining if something is conscious or sentient. Such as the ability to experience qualia, or the ability to be aware you're experiencing qualia. Another theory I came across was to measure it on the ability to…
Simon K
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What Qualifies Sentience?
If there is a non-sentient being, (e.g. A Non-Player Character in a video game), who understands what sentience is, and is aware that they are not sentient, does that make them, in fact, sentient? Does their awareness that they are NOT sentient…
Gracelyn Rioux
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