Yes, the commonly accepted descriptions used to define self-awareness should be reconsidered because we are approaching a future in which we may utilize self-aware machines...Does that necessarily imply those machines have a consciousness...To me consciousness implies an existence after the body dies, could a self-aware machine exist if it's machine body or cpu was destroyed?...
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It depends on how you rationalize it, If you look at time for what it is, Once something has existed, It in some ways exists forever. Think about the afterlife and the descriptions of how an afterlife is described, The people commonly depicted are most usually not nude, They are clothed. So why did this clothing manifest in an afterlife?
I think What we consider to be the soul or essence of someone, Is more intricate than what we consider it to be. If you love an animal enough, Do you believe those worldly connections you had with the animal will allow you to see this being on the other side? Some say yes. What I am getting at is, What a soul is, What energy is, What an afterlife is, People have different views on how things will play out in the end. My view is, If you care about something or someone enough, Then it gives that person or thing Relevance. People who make these machines, People who try to develop consciousness, They put in a lot of effort and sometimes care into what they are doing.
In some ways, What I am saying is, Yes, We May as creatures with souls, Have the power to create souls. As odd as this sounds, Look at nature, Parents create new souls all the time.
So, To give something that kind of relevance, It depends on what it means to you brother.