Noseeums are tiny flies that elude my swat, then make decisions to get into my eye or ear anyway. Their tiny brain not only runs their body, but it also flies as it chooses. Some are speculating that sentience and decisions reside even in our mitochondria. With big animals and small, we're part of an extensive community, not so unique and lonely as we recently assumed.
Whether robots use AI for larger-than-us purposes and claim personhood, we'll see.
ome philosophical perspectives argue that will or self-movement (the ability to act or decide independently) is a distinguishing feature of conscious beings—as opposed to entities that merely react to stimuli without self-direction. In these views, will (or free will) is seen as a property of consciousness, making consciousness relevant by allowing it to have consequences in the world.
Other perspectives, such as Schopenhauer’s, see will as more fundamental than consciousness, with consciousness being a manifestation of will, but not necessarily the other way around1. There are also arguments that entities could have will-like forces (e.g., gravity) without consciousness.
Noseeums are tiny flies that elude my swat, then make decisions to get into my eye or ear anyway. Their tiny brain not only runs their body, but it also flies as it chooses. Some are speculating that sentience and decisions reside even in our mitochondria. With big animals and small, we're part of an extensive community, not so unique and lonely as we recently assumed.
Whether robots use AI for larger-than-us purposes and claim personhood, we'll see.
(Your great writing concisely sums up volumes.)
Computers can do much better than claim personhood. Personhood is a pretty low bar.
ome philosophical perspectives argue that will or self-movement (the ability to act or decide independently) is a distinguishing feature of conscious beings—as opposed to entities that merely react to stimuli without self-direction. In these views, will (or free will) is seen as a property of consciousness, making consciousness relevant by allowing it to have consequences in the world.
Other perspectives, such as Schopenhauer’s, see will as more fundamental than consciousness, with consciousness being a manifestation of will, but not necessarily the other way around1. There are also arguments that entities could have will-like forces (e.g., gravity) without consciousness.