/sci/ - Science & Math

I have a question. If you had a computer that could effectively mimic a human brain, and it swore up and down that it was conscious, could feel pain, see colors, make decisions, etc. would you believe it? Even though you could see in detail how it's 'brain' actually worked to produce these things?

>>3886923
This is an excellent point:

"Was the wave function waiting to jump for thousands of millions of years until a single-celled living creature appeared? Or did it have to wait a little longer for some highly qualified measurer - with a PhD?"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_goo

I have a seeking suspicion the 'L' variable in Drake's equation is often less than a couple hundred earth-years in length.