Living brain cells wired into organoid-on-a-chip biocomputers can now learn to drive robots, thanks to an open-source intelligent interaction system called MetaBOC. This remarkable project aims to re-home human brain cells in artificial bodies.
That raises a lot of ethical concerns. It is not possible to prove or disprove that these synthetic homunculi controllers are sentient and intelligent beings.
I think we should still do it, we probably will never understand unless we do it, but we have to accept the possibility that if these synths are indeed sentient then they also deserve the basic rights of intelligent living beings.
I’d wager the main reason we can’t prove or disprove that, is because we have no strict definition of intelligence or sentience to begin with.
For that matter, computers have many more transistors and are already capable of mimicking human emotions - how ethical is that, and why does it differ from bio-based controllers?
Good point. There is a theory somewhere that loosely states one cannot understand the nature of one’s own intelligence. Iirc it’s a philosophical extension of group/set theory, but it’s been a long time since I looked into any of that so the details are a bit fuzzy. I should look into that again.
At least with computers we can mathematically prove their limits and state with high confidence that any intelligence they have is mimicry at best. Look into turing completeness and it’s implications for more detailed answers. Computational limits are still limits.
That raises a lot of ethical concerns. It is not possible to prove or disprove that these synthetic homunculi controllers are sentient and intelligent beings.
we absolutely should not do this until we understand it
But if we do that, how will we maximize how much money we make off of it? /s
How would we ever understand it, then?
I think we should still do it, we probably will never understand unless we do it, but we have to accept the possibility that if these synths are indeed sentient then they also deserve the basic rights of intelligent living beings.
Can’t say we as a species have a great history of granting rights to others.
Nah it’s okay. I was called all sorts of names and told I was against progress when I raised such concerns, so obviously I was wrong…
I’d wager the main reason we can’t prove or disprove that, is because we have no strict definition of intelligence or sentience to begin with.
For that matter, computers have many more transistors and are already capable of mimicking human emotions - how ethical is that, and why does it differ from bio-based controllers?
There is no soul in there. God did not create it. Here you go, religion serving power again.
Good point. There is a theory somewhere that loosely states one cannot understand the nature of one’s own intelligence. Iirc it’s a philosophical extension of group/set theory, but it’s been a long time since I looked into any of that so the details are a bit fuzzy. I should look into that again.
At least with computers we can mathematically prove their limits and state with high confidence that any intelligence they have is mimicry at best. Look into turing completeness and it’s implications for more detailed answers. Computational limits are still limits.
There are about 90 billion neurons on a human brain. From the article:
that is far less than I believe would be necessary for anything intelligent emerge from the experiment
In a couple years, they’ll be able to make Trump voters.
Some amphibians have less than two million.
And they are ceos!
The amount isn’t necessarily an indicator of intelligence, the nunber of connections is very important too