GDR writes:
I hope we don't sit on our hands in the mean time.
Oh no, don't get me wrong. I have no problem with us hypothesizing these things. I just wanted to point out that using concepts that are completely subjective, like emotions, to define levels of intelligence and sentience could become very dangerous in the near future.
Science fiction writers and movie makers alike have tackled this before. Ten years ago, the idea of artificial intelligence (honest to god artificial intelligence) was still far in the sci fi realm. But nowadays, in my opinion it is not that far off. The question then becomes how will we treat this new "race" (for lack of a better word)?
It might be a very long wait.
I wasn't talking only about extraterrestrial intelligence. The prospect of a new race of artificial intelligent beings isn't that far off... perhaps a few decades?
George Absolutely Stupid Bush the
Younger