I'm a robot, and proud of it.
I present the following as fact, because it is. I know how certain religious folk enjoy refuting facts, so please, enjoy doing so.
Actions can be induced by electrical stimulation of the brain. In an American University, it was discovered that by stimulating particular regions of the brain, you can cause all and every type of bodily motions, from frowning, blinking, to dancing or shaking hands.
When this was first tested on animals. You know, monkeys, cats, etc, the subjects found no surprise in doing the action the 3rd party had caused. This is very important, because it was if the action was performed entirely voluntarily by the animal. As if it had just decided to get up and walk around, as it was doing.
Some people claimed that the simulations did not cause Actions (Actions involve reasons and decisions, not just motion), but only movement.
So our American University people moved onto humans, as all experiments do. Not only did the humans make the actions that their brains were stimulated to without fear or surprise (like the animals), but when questioned, the humans actually produced reasons for them. They weren’t only stimulating the brain to make motions. They were stimulating the brain to make actions.
Example: One study was to make the head move from side-to-side, as if looking around. This was repeated on one person over a number of days, lot’s of times. Every time, he produced a reason, ranging from “I’m looking for my slippers,” to “I heard a noise,” “I am restless,” etc, etc.
The subject did not know the stimulation was inducing the behaviour, he thought it was merely spontaneous, with reason. He was rationalising the movement, giving it reason.
Now, are our decisions also produced in the same way, by neuronal firings? Suppose you sit around doing nothing, and then you spontaneously move your finger. Subjectively, you may feel certain that the decision to move your finger was entirely within your control. But now suppose you have electrodes attached to your head, and you’re asked to do it again. Somebody watching the brain readings will see a specific pattern of brain activity when you move your finger. The activity begins up to one and half seconds before the actual movement of the finger. So the guy watching the monitor with the wavy lines knows you are going to move your finger before you know it yourself.
Human consciousness and human personality is made up of surprisingly little, and though people have often said it’s impossible to create a ‘true’ AI, I can tell you that is bullshit. There is nothing special about so-called ‘sentience’ or being self-aware, or being able to think or emote. Nothing at all; it can all be broken down, controlled, or recreated. Humans quite literally are robots. We feel like we have free will, like we make real decisions, like we have something deeper (the mythical soul), but we’re not. It’s an illusion. Our personalities are likely to be 50% genes, 50% environmental influences.
Commentary? Discussion? All that shiz.
Last edited by Shrink; 09-27-2005 at 01:58 PM..
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No, don't.
