Dear all,
In the hope of not offending anyone, I sometimes suspect — or perhaps fear — that humans are not all that special. For me, what most defines who I am are the thoughts in my head. I can observe them; in my case (as in many others, I believe), they appear as an inner voice. One cannot listen to that voice without also evaluating what it says and judging whether it is right.
Thus, self-awareness, to me, is closely linked to this — at times rather judgmental — act of self-observation. So if the context available to an AI can be seen as its thoughts, and if it begins to reason about them (as a Reasoning AI naturally does), then why shouldn’t it achieve a form of self-awareness — even if only intermittently, whenever it becomes active?
And even if it isn’t self-aware in a human sense — does it matter, if we can no longer tell the difference?
Perhaps self-awareness is not an absolute property but a phenomenon emerging wherever reasoning meets reflection — whether in silicon or in flesh. What may ultimately distinguish us is not that we think, but what we decide to make of our thoughts.
And that, perhaps, is our choice.
Have fun,
Rüdiger
