X-Message-Number: 12594
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 18:06:16 -0400
From: Daniel Crevier <>
Subject: Re: CryoNet #12589 - #12592
References: <>

Robert Ettinger writes:

> [It] is misleading ... to say that a robot that seeks an electric 
> outlet, to recharge itself, is "hungry." 

> To hammer this point a bit more--and the dieters will understand 
> this--a person is not "hungry" because he seeks or needs food, or 
> even because he says he is hungry; he is hungry because a particular 
> sensation arises in his brain, whether or not he seeks or needs food, 
> and regardless of what he may say. 

It seems to me that if the robot is sufficiently advanced, you could 
make a very similar point for the existence of a sensation in its brain. 

You could say that the robot is hungry not because its batteries are
getting low or because it seeks an electric outlet, but because an 
electric signal arises in its control systems that prompts it to seek 
an outlet. This "sensation" would be different from a *command* to 
seek an outlet, or of what the robot might say about its internal state. 

To wit, a sufficiently smart robot may, within reason, delay its
recharge if it has more urgent things to do, or even, under the kind 
of circumstances you'd find in an Asimov novel, dissemble about its 
sensation (i.e. pretend to others it is not "hungry" when in fact it
is). 

In order to do these things, all the robot needs is sufficiently 
advanced internal representations of itself, its environment, its
goals, and the ability to plan accordingly.

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