Debating Sentience and Consciousness in AI and Robots

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The discussion focuses on the definitions of sentience and consciousness, with sentience being the ability to feel and consciousness being a different state. The distinction is made between feeling something (sentience) and a higher level of awareness (consciousness). The debate questions whether machines can feel pain or emotions, and it delves into the philosophical concept of qualia, which is the embodied experience of feelings. It also explores the possibility of humans and machines converging in terms of sentience and the complexities involved in decoding the computational process of biology. The debate includes the argument that at some point, it may become impossible to differentiate between humans and machines in terms of their capabilities.

What does it mean to be human when your colleague's a bot? Can AI ever truly understand us? This week, we're thrilled to welcome Gary F Bengier, eBay's first CFO and author of the award-winning novel, Unfettered Journey, as we dive into the future of work and the role of AI. Gary's background in Silicon Valley and his understanding of AI and technology make him the perfect guest to shed light on the ethical implications of AI, the potential impact of large language models on business, and the crucial differences between symbolic software and large language models.

As we unpack the World Economic Forum's prediction that AI will generate 97 million new jobs while eliminating 85 million in the next three years, Gary and I contemplate the implications of machines and humans working together. We discuss the possibility that robots could eventually build robot factories, detaching the output of the economic system from labor hours, and explore the question of sentience in the age of advanced technology. Join us for an important conversation and peer into the mind of one of the great philosophers and technologists of our time.

Oh, and learn what Gary says is a better definition for the acronym "LLM" :).

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