If we ever create computer-based sentience, some would likely implant the thinking machines in artificial human bodies, creating a mechanical species—robots—that would be integrated into conventional reality. But my interest here is in those who would be drawn by the purity of electrical impulses to program simulated environments populated by simulated beings that would exist within a computer’s hardware; instead of C-3PO or Data, think Sims or Second Life, but with inhabitants who have self-aware and responsive minds. The history of technological innovation suggests that iteration by
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