From: Gregory Houston (vertigo@triberian.com)
Date: Sat Mar 29 1997 - 17:25:09 MST
I wrote:
> > You cannot simply program emotions if the hardware cannot experience
> > them. My body including my brain can experience emotions. Computers, as
> > of yet, cannot experience emotions, and this is not so much a software
> > problem as it is a hardware problem.
Anders Sandberg responded:
> What do you base this assertion on?
Can you merely program a computer to see without creating optical
hardware? No! You can program pattern recognizing neural nets day in and
day out, but until you give the computer hardware [optics] to see with,
it cannot see ... no matter how hard you try to program it to do so.
Can you merely program a robot to walk? No! You have to give the thing
"legs" if you want it to walk, or wheels if you want it to roll. No
matter how much time you invest in programming a computer to either walk
or roll, that computer will do neither without the required hardware.
Can you merely program a computer to verbally talk? No! You have to give
the thing speakers or some other sort of vocal apparatus.
Can you ... ad infinitum
Emotions are felt in a physical manner. I *feel* sexual pleasure via my
organs. I *feel* hunger via my organs. I *feel* excitement via my
organs. Without this specialized hardware I would *feel* nothing. As a
computer I might be "aware" of conditions, but I would not *feel* those
conditions unless someone created specialized hardware that would allow
me to *feel*.
If a computer is to feel pleasure from the outside world it will require
peripheal nodes which can register sensation (pleasure and pain). If a
computer is to feel pleasure from its own internal processes it will
require internal nodes which can register sensation (pleasure and pain).
We can program computers to think because that is what the hardware was
designed for. The hardware has not yet been designed to feel emotion.
I imagine emotions will be incredably easy to program once we have the
enabling technology that allows computers to feel. But first there must
be an interest in doing so.
Cheers!
--
Gregory Houston Triberian Institute of Emotive Education
vertigo@triberian.com http://www.triberian.com
phone: 816.561.1524 info@triberian.com
cellular: 816.807.6660 snail: PO Box 32046 Kansas City MO 64171
"Empowered, impassioned, we have a lust for life insatiable!"
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