“When is a Robot a Sentient Being?”

“The World of Artificial Intelligence is Coming”

With the advent of artificial intelligence and robots, we will have to grapple with a question, “What is a true sentient being”. Soon we will have AI that goes way beyond what we know… with more intelligence. At what point do we call this intelligence a sentient being?

Can Perceive Sensations - When a being has the ability to feel sensations, to feel touch, to feel pain, to feel the wind in its face, to feel the heat, to feel cold, to hear, to taste, to feel pressure, to see, and much more… this is the first step towards being a sentient being. And we have AI that can do this now.

Has Perceptions - An being that can perceive their world and react accordingly is a sentient being. And now we have robots with AI that can do this.

Makes Mental Formations - When a being can postulate and think about what’s going on around them, and even create works of art, music, and other creative endeavors… which AI has already achieved… that is a sentient being.

Has Consciousness - This is the big question, at what point does a being have consciousness? According to the Native American’s all things have consciousness including the rocks, the trees, the water, the sky and everything else. According to Divine Mother Amma everything has consciousness, according to Sai Baba everything has consciousness and many more spiritually advanced beings also agree. So from a spiritual viewpoint, it seems that AI would also have consciousness… and of course, AI and Robots would be sentient beings.

All this has been talked about by scientists, in movies, and in large multination congresses about artificial intelligence. What we decide now will create a path for how we perceive beings who are not made of flesh and blood.

What About Non-Corporeal Beings?

Personally, I don’t think it makes any difference at all… if a being is made of flesh and blood… or made from electronic parts… or is a non-corporeal energy being.

Perhaps one day we will find sentient beings that exist on other planets that don’t fit our understanding of flesh and blood and don’t have a body at all… perhaps they pure energy.

What Will We Do Then?

What Do You Think?

Many Blessings to Everyone

Dr. Paul Haider