The show WestWorld has me thinking about things of this nature a great deal right now. Would an AI with consciousness be a true living being? If it's just a computer than it is finite, so it would not leave this temporal plane I assume. I tend to lean on the side that mind is part of the physical experience and spirit is something separate and infinite. I would have a hard time with conscious AI simply because I tend to love rather easily and would find it tragic to love something that would end with such finality. Then again...nope, need to back away a little, this is where the 50 amp fuse in my brain threatens to trip haha!
i saw many different scifi themes in Westworld. From Blade runner to Neuromancer, and many things between.
i guess there is a need to define critically what we mean when we say "true living being". the keys of a piano are finite, but the music that can be played on those keys is not. can this be said of what we already call "true living beings"? what part does consciousness play? i have known people who probably wouldn't have passed a Turing test. at what point does AI artificial intelligence, become AC artificial consciousness? is it a progression? is consciousness possible without intelligence?
brain, intelligence, mind, consciousness, spirit, soul, being, not necessarily in that order. did i miss anything?