X-Message-Number: 12998 From: "Bryan Moss" <> Subject: Sentient Tiles Date: Sat, 25 Dec 1999 03:59:46 -0000 Robert Ettinger gave several thought experiments on the subject of sentient non-biological intelligences. I think I can do better. Wang has shown us that a Turing machine can be represented as a tiling. Creating a 'sentient' tiling is much like the example of a mathematician plotting out an AI on a sheet of paper, but also demonstrates an additional oddity. A sentient Wang tiling does not function across time but across space. I don't need to wait for a machine to finish before I get my answer; it's already there, waiting for me to interpret it. In the same sense, the formulas of my sentient equations can be said to be happy and sad at the same time; as Robert has said, it's just a matter of what variables I use. The Wang tiling goes beyond a set of equations because it represents all of this information simultaneously. It is in a superposed state of every thought and every emotion it could ever have. It is reacting to every possible situation, seeing every possible sight, and hearing every possible sound. Some questions... - If I reposition the tiles, are they still sentient? - If we assume that the tiles are consciousness, since their physicality affords no function other than to inform us of their existence, is it necessary for them to exist to be conscious? For the record I happen to think that Wang tiles experience as much thought and feeling as the rest of us. It's 4 AM and there's no sign of Santa, BM Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=12998