Do you think machine consciousness is possible?
matthew-wegner: I look at consciousness fairly oddly:I believe consciousness is an emergent property of a complex system; it is simply the nature of the universe that complex systems exhibit consciousness.  I'm defining "complex system" as any system whose outputs/results affect the inputs/possible states.  If I think something, the possibility space for my next thought is dependent upon my previous thought, and so on.I think artificial consciousness research will progress, through computer simulation, to the point where a "real" consciousness emerges from a sufficiently complex simulation.  The hard part will be mapping its inputs/outputs into human-compatible form; success will probably occur by accident at first.  But when we can do this we'll be able to talk to a totally simulated consciousness through the prism of it being another "person".At this point more research/thought will be put into the nature of consciousness itself, and how to connect with other-than-human consciousnesses.  We'll use the experience of bridging communication with artificial consciousness to successfully communicate with naturally-occuring consciousnesses associated with other complex systems (the earth, a tree, the galaxy, etc).  It sounds a little insane, but I totally think this is within the realm of possible in our lifetimes.Of course, that's all based on the notion that consciousness is an emergent property of a complex system, and not something entirely unique or bestowed by higher powers or whatever.