Well that goes to the heart of AI itsself. How do you define life? Most people would say that in order to have the quality of life, you must have conciousness (spelling) of the life you claim to live. These same people, however, would tell you a coma patient isnt dead. Hes just in a coma.
Seems kind of hypocritical. We are quick to accept the possibility that a coma patient can be aware of the world around him, and his current situation. But we cannot accept that a form of AI can do the same? Isnt a progressive robot learning? Right now, in this tower by my feet, there are literally millions of automated tasks going on at once. Like the lightning in a bottle affect we see when viewing a human brain when dye injected. Saying that a robot with the SAME basic thing going on in his head cant POSSIBLY just once realize its more then silicon and wires is insane. The same people who deem that impossible must be the same people who are so damn sure the universe is an empty abyss.
Personally whe i see AI i see a form of life. Conventional no, but its there. I-Robot was a box office hit because lots of things exploded, but for those who looked past the surface and really listened, it touched alot of chapters of this topic.
Hell hawking cant wipe his own ass, but im betting the honda robot could if he wanted too.
Edit: Not trying to go too far off the rail, but heres another look at it. Perhaps the coma patients cant sense a damn thing, but we accept the possibility because we find comfort in the idea they can. So perhaps the idea that a robot or other AI form can sense and understand things just scares people. COME OUT OF THE CLOSETS PEOPLE, I-ROBOT WAS A MOVIE!!!
