The purpose of
this essay is to examine whether or not there would be practical reasons
for creating a conscious, emotional machine.
I will not delve to deeply into whether or not it is possible to create
such a machine, as the argument as to what exactly would constitute a living
conscious machine seems largely unsettled.
Rather I will concentrate on whether or not we should create such a
machine, if the possibility becomes available to us. Are there uses for such a machine that could not be satisfied
by a complex automaton? Is there
anything about real emotional response that would be necessary for a machine to
operate autonomously, and still interact with human beings? What are the dangers? What are the ethical ramifications? It
is questions such as these that will be the interest of this paper.