Is it theoretically possible for a computer to have conscious thought, to make decisions for itself? It has never been documented as happening to date, but is within the realm of possibility one day for it be so?

I could tell you the truth on that topic, but then my computer montior would explode killing me. Can't type computer are watching, can't computers are watching. Watching, watching, allways watching!

Sure...there are advancements in labs, that the government wont let you know about, till they can take advantage of it first. They, are the ones that hold back progress...

With the advances daily in computer coding, the day might not be far off...think how far computers have come since their inception, from vacuum tubes and large rooms just to contain memory to what we have today. But there is a limit to the speed at which the computer can operate. Would the system have to be designed likes ours...biochemical storage and the like so that it can process fast enough? And how much information needs to be stored in memory?

You tryin to say Johnny 5 isnt alive? Ste-ph-o-nie?

I'm not sure if I follow your meaning.

From my point of view there is a difference between concious thought and merely making autonomous descisions.

We already have computer programs that can make autonomous descisions for themselves. NASA uses them all the time on their robot missions.

Does that mean that the computers are 'conscious'. I don't think so.

For me a computer that can make autonomous descisions for itself does not automatically imply that it is 'aware' of what it's doing.

To me the question would not be, "Can computer think autonomously?"

The real question is whether or not they can ever become aware that they are thinking.

Now with that thought in mind, my answer depends on the nature of the computer.

The PC's that we use on our homes are purely digital computers. They have a CPU, RAM, ROM and access to peripherals.

I personly don't believe that a CPU-based digital computer could ever become sentient. It simply doesn't have the right 'stuff'.

It's not complex enough. In a very real sense a CPU-based computer is a serial device (or linear device). In other words, it just operates on one 'byte' or 'word' at a time as it steps through an algorithm (a program).

While that process can be extremely powerful, I personally can't see that configuration ever becoming sentient. It just isn't complex enough.

However, modern computer techonology is going far beyond this. Computers are being designed around Neural Nets. Not at all unlike the human brain expect they aren't biological.

Instead of being run by CPU's at the core, they are run by analog operational ampilfiers. They don't think 'digital' in discrete steps operating on one 'byte' or 'word' at a time over a serial algorithm. Instead they think 'analog' in parallel operating over large nets in parallel at a time.

This situation allows for a 'Strange Attractor' arise. A 'Strange Attractor' is a concept in "Chaos Theory" (or "Complexity Science" as it is currently being renamed).

I can't possiblely explain the concept of a 'Strange Attractor' in this post, but it would be concept of a 'Strange Attractor' that could potentially bring the neural net to a conscious state of awareness.

I'm not saying this would necessarily happen. I'm just saying that this idea appears to have some merit.

Anyway, that's just my thoughts for whatever they're worth.

I would personally be willing to give robots the same respect that I would give to any living being. I already respect my car and I know she's not sentient.

Shhhhhhh! Don't tell her I said that!

Well, HE is...I totally forgot about that movie Wasn't there a terrible sequel?

yeah! I know every word.

That is so Awesome!

Is it just me, or if you take Johnny-5....

remove his lazer
give him a trash compactor

...you get Wall-E ????

His overall design, his movements, his opticals, his treads...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence

I refuse to watch disney or pixar films, they're films are like parasites that eat your soul so, I haven't seen Wall-E, the commercial alone sucked years of my life away...

Awsome, MirrorMirror! Now all we need is that demon robot from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"

IMG]http://i1017.photobucket.com/albums

<a href="http://s1017.photobucket.com/albums/af294/Global99/?action=view&current=250px-Buffy108-moloch3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1017.photobucket.com/albums/af294/Global99/250px-Buffy108-moloch3.jpg" border="0" alt="MOLOCH!!"></a> hope it worked

all right, one more time

You got it Its all about the IMG code

PIXAR IS AWESOME!!!!!

I agree with you about Disney, and I was quite sad when I heard that Disney bought Pixar. I wonder if I'm being sucked into Disney-ness by the Great Pixar. I would love to see Disney just crash and burn as a company - "filthy lobbiests for the unreasonable extensions of copyright" that they are.

The first half of Wall-E is amazing, right up to the lift off.