Machines can be conscious - 1605 Words

R.Yusuf Akbal 210112409 03.05.2013 Can machines be conscious? Can machines be conscious? Well, the answer actually depends on the kind of machines you are talking about. Based on quite a few instances and research work done on this particular topic, I think that the machines can indeed be categorized as conscious beings and in the following paragraphs I will be providing a couple of examples in order to support my argument. If we look at the definition of consciousness, which implies that ‘one has to be aware of all its surroundings and wellbeing’ then machines can certainly not be conscious; as they have all the operations and data already programmed in them by some external forces and are only aware of those situations which have†¦show more content†¦Another example quoted by Harnad (Harnad, 1991) is that, whenever we dream, we are apparently disconnected from the world, our muscles get stable and paralyzed and we are cut-off from the whole environment. However, we are still conscious as we are conscious about the functions and sounds performing inside and outside the body, and our body would respond when it is touched or forced to move. Sensory perceptions would be always there. This reflects machines as being conscious. Neurological evidence points out that people who lose their eye sights accidently or by birth can certainly dream and imagine about things. Consciousness does not require interaction with the environment. This means that interaction, awareness, and emotions do not always fall in the category of consciousness. In this way, machines can be conscious if they acquire just few aspects (Shear, 1997). One of the examples that support my argument that the machines can be conscious is the example of a sheep that was genetically made by human beings using the genes and DNA of an original sheep. That was actually a machine as it was synthetically made by human beings, but it had the ability to survive, produce heat, think, and do all the activities that an original sheep is capable of doing. So this machine comes under the category of being conscious. Dolly sheep was made on 5th July 1996 with the help of cloned embryo and DNA of another naturally produced sheep. She was also aShow MoreRelatedAn Aristotelian Theory Of Consciousness1646 Words   |  7 PagesVictorian automatons, to our more recent fancies- computers, robots and other Turing machines. Perhaps the reason for this preoccupation with artificial intelligence is actually a quest to better understand our own consciousness. At first sight, the question â€Å"Can a machine be conscious?† appears deceptively simple. However, the answer to this question is entirely dependent on how we define consciousness. We can embark by defining consciousness in an Aristotelian fashion- by its function. 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