Post #4809352 · Elektrine

2026-09-22 20:47 UTC

There is a question - or rather three questions. They come out of the growth of AI. And I don't expect answers, I just think we should ask them. 1. What is intelligence? How would we know if software is intelligent? Turing Test is (of course) obsolete. So how do we check it now? 2. What is sentience? Again, how would we know if an AI (a real one) was sentient? 3. What is a spiritual being - a soul, or whatever we call it? How would we know if a non-human sentient being has a soul?

Replies (1)

@CppGuy@infosec.space 2026-09-22 21:16

@SteveClough@metalhead.club My opinions, for what little they're worth: As you've implied by writing two separate questions, intelligence is distinct from sentience. Intelligence can be measured by visible performance. It can be limited to certain areas or tasks, just as it is in humans. AGI (if that turns out to be possible) is not a binary thing: an AI could be more intelligent than humans in some areas and less intelligent in others. Sentience — or consciousness — is harder to assess. I can't even prove that a dog is conscious, although I believe it is. A practical definition of consciousness is the ability to suffer. Can a dog suffer? I believe so. Can an amoeba? I think not. But I don't know where the boundary lies. There's no such thing as a soul, and therefore no machine has one. Behaviours often ascribed to a soul emerge from human biology and society. Bonus fourth opinion: I don't see why consciousness couldn't arise in silicon; I don't see any reason why it has to be carbon-based. But I don't think LLMs will ever get us to AGI or to conscious machines.

Open ##4809350