It doesn’t matter if a computer can actually know or feel anything. That’s not what the Turing test is about. The test is about simulation of thought. Is it convincing? Can it fool you good enough?
So you might say, it can fool me, but it still can’t actually think, so it doesn’t really count. Who’s counting?
When you think of the simulation of a machine, it’s based human interaction. If you really want to bend to this logic, think about your interaction with other human beings. When they say something to you, you hear the words in your head, you see their lips move as image in your head. You then tell yourself, they are displaying thoughts behind those actions, they must be thinking, just like me! But all that is simulation.
There is very little beyond that which allows you to tap into their brain, know their exact thoughts like you are riding the waves of your own thought process. You can’t even prove to yourself that you know they have a brain that thinks. Even if you open up their skull and look. It’s a good guess about a series of associated implications. But it’s still a guess.
Just like when a person walks around the corner we assume they still exist. It’s an assumption we don’t let go of. That others exist and have thoughts. Probably because the alternative is a scary or lonely one. Either way, we don’t know the thoughts of others, it remains a surface assessment. Computers are not different when they beat the turning test.
Yes, computers will replace . . . our jobs. But new jobs will replace the old ones, especially when they start teaching kids to code in the first grade.
When I say we will become more like computers, start with the idea that computers are already extensions of ourselves. Our brains compute. I move on to emotions. Since feelings lead to craving which leads to suffering, the most human of problems. Since computers solve problems, ending suffering is high on the list. Before that ultimate cure arrives, people will become more logical than emotional. Or more emotionally intelligent. I call it numb as normal. Chrome Novocain. Rusted parts replaced, for a 3D printed heart.
We won’t be replaced. We’ll evolve into bionic men. Our thoughts will be assisted by the thoughts* of a machine. It’s called symbiosis. It occurs in nature.