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That's interesting to ponder on and all, but we know the Sims characters are not aware.
by samweinberg 13y ago
That's interesting to ponder on and all, but we know the Sims characters are not aware.
- asgard1024 13y agoAre you sure? Since version 1, they can recognize themselves in a mirror.
- mhitza 13y agoWe are programmers here, let's not attribute simple tricks to sentience.
- rtkwe 13y agoWhat ever civilization that runs our simulation could have drawn a distinction culturally/legally between their real sentience and sentience in their simulation. Linking and granting rights to a simulated sentience isn't a guaranteed step after all.
- asgard1024 13y agoFirst of all, sentience of beings is not a necessary condition for the simulation to be borderline unethical. No other species on our planet is sentient, yet many people don't consider hurting these for fun to be moral. I was joking of course, the joke being that ability to recognize itself in the mirror is a common test of self-awareness used by biologists. And Sims can (sort of) do that. But! You mention "simple tricks", and it reminded me of Dan Dennett lecture on "Magic and Consciousness": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jBUtKYRxnA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jBUtKYRxnA His point is exactly that maybe the consciousness is just a collection of "simple tricks", which, to us, give the illusion they are not so simple.