I have a dim memory of Dennett on a PBS special saying that a piece of software that could pass a general Turing test should be accorded the rights of a human. Seems right to me.
Question: did you ever have a student who anticipated your twist on the discussion, or thought that even if they sweetheart, etc. were a robot, it didn't matter and that such robots must have internal states akin or identical to consciousness? Anybody ever reply that we're just robots implemented with biological rather than electronic stuff?
Curtiss
> I used to argue about mechanical intelligence with
> my students. Suppose your sweetie, boyfriend, girlfriend,
> whatever, turned out to be a robot -- said, darling, I
> have something to tell you, and flipped open a panel
> with wiring. Would that means he was just a _thing_,
> that you could disassemble her and stash her in the
> basement, kick her downstairs, use her asa sex toy,
> sell her to a fraternity? A certain number of students,
> maybe 20%, ireducible said, Yes. Well, I'd say, I have
> news for you -- you were not supposedto find out about
> this until your senior year, but YOU are robots. Does
> that change your view?