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Comment by falcor84

14 days ago

Wait - why is it not Data? Where is the line?

That topic (ship's computer vs. Data) is actually discussed at length in-universe during The Measure of a Man. [0] The court posits that the three requirements for sentient life are intelligence, self-awareness, and consciousness. Data is intelligent and self-aware, but there is no good measure for consciousness.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Measure_of_a_Man_(Star_Tre...

  • Using science fiction as a basis for philosophy isn't wise, especially TNG which has a very obvious flavor of "optimistic human exceptionalism" (contrast with DS9, where I think Eddington even makes this point).

  • Doesn't ChatGPT fulfill these criteria too?

    • In a Chinese room sort of way, sure. The problem is we understand too well how it works, so any semblance of consciousness or self awareness we know to be simple text generation.

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    • Again, there's no real measure for consciousness, so it's difficult to say. If you ask me, frontier models meet the definition of intelligence, but not the definition of self-awareness, so they aren't sentient regardless of whether they are conscious. This is a pretty fundamental philosophical question that's been considered for centuries, outside of the context of AI.

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