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> Though nobody posited it, IF we were talking about robodogs that utilize fundamentally different technologies, like quantum mechanics vs. simple electronics, MAYBE this wouldn't strike me as quite so silly an argument. But the assumption here is that these robodogs are simple extensions to well-understood computing technologies in use by computers today and very distinctly NOT used by ANYTHING commonly assumed to be conscious, like a human or an animal.

I'm not entirely sure how this makes any difference, but my own pseudo-intellectual thoughts on the matter tend in the direction that consciousness does depend on quantum mechanical principles in some fundamental way. So quantum computers may indeed be necessary to create a fully realized robodog of the type we've been assuming.

But again, it doesn't seem to make any difference to me either way. The point isn't how it's done, it's that, GIVEN that we have a robodog indistinguishable from a meatdog (short of cutting it open and looking), how can you say one is alive and the other isn't? ALL evidence we have to go on that real meatdogs have any sort of internal life that would indicate what we call consciousness comes from observing their behavior. If a robodog were observed to exhibit exactly the same behavior, how can we say we haven't created a conscious being? The only difference is that we presumably have full understanding of the workings of one (the robodog) and possibly still do not fully understand the other. That only points out that what we consider consciousness may be more machine-like than we care to think. Denying that the robodog has the same level of consciousness as a meatdog is just elevating the biological machine to a higher level arbitrarily.

Again, given that we have a robodog indistinguishable from a real dog by observing its actions, and given that the only proof we have of any level of consciousness in a meatdog comes from observing its actions, then I can't see how it can be said that the robodog is not every bit as conscious as the meatdog.

-- Dave