# Do Sentient Computers Have Rights? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 2, 2000, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sentient-computers-have-rights/17911 "2000-04-02T21:44:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2000, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sentient-computers-have-rights/17911/81 "2000-04-09T19:44:00Z")
Hey, **JoeyBlades** , I’m not arguing with you. I agree that there should be protections. I am just laying out the arguments others will surely make. Another problem will be determining just what **is** sentience. Is there a bright-line cutoff, or is there a continuum? And if it is a continuum, at what point along that continuum would rights accrue? (The folks pushing for rights for great apes are probably positing the same questions as they apply to animal rights. A good point of reference, **Freedom**.) We will have to arrive at an agreed-upon definition of sentience before Congress is likely to act, even in the best-case scenario, and I’m not sure that will be an easy task. The property rights issues will be thorny as well. If I build a sentient machine in my garage, I may spend a lot of money on parts and labor. When the machine attains sentience, will I have lost all say-so over what becomes of it? What about the money I spent. Could I force the machine to repay me for the cost of building it? If it fails to pay, can I start repossessing its component parts? These questions seem kind of silly, I suppose, but I guarantee that they will be real issues if sentient machines become a reality. Still no religious takers on the debate, it seems. Come on. What happens if an android asks to be baptized? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SingleDad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@SingleDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SingleDad)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2000, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sentient-computers-have-rights/17911/82 "2000-04-09T21:16:00Z")
**Jai Pey:** > [@](#): > > Since the OP’s first question was asked re: human-ness (thinks, looks, smells, talks, etc, like a human, is it human?) then this Turing Test ought to be a good test by your own admission SingleDad. Well, I was making the point that “sentience” and “humanity” are not necessarily the same thing. The Turing Test purports to prove “humanness” not “sentience”. > [@](#): > > The flaw is truly tasty though… because not only could other-than-human sentience not be recognized by it, but human sentience could also be “faked”/simulated to a point that another human could recognize it where it isn’t. Much depends on the definition of “sentience”. Currently we define human sentience operationally: a sentient being is one that **acts sentient**. In which case, distinguishing between the “real thing” and a “simulation” is a distinction without a difference. Let’s analyze a simpler phenomenon. I can perform “real” math computations with my brain. Now, if a calculator performs those same computations and comes up with the correct answer, is it performing a “real” computation or is it a “simulated” computation? > [@](#): > > So I guess I’ll appeal to Descartes: Even if I thought I recognized, saw, smelled, conversed with something that is “exactly” what I think human sentience is supposed to be like, is it really there? How do I know I’m not being tricked? That cuts both ways, you know. How do you know that _I_ am sentient or even human. “Brain in the Vat” arguments don’t really lead anywhere. Your previous point makes more sense. > [@](#): > > **Assume** sentient machines for a moment. How long would such machines be around, do you think, before we amended our laws to give them some protection. Or **would** we amend our laws to protect them? I tend to agree with Nen’s POV. I would speculate we would not grant civil rights to sentient computers until they fought a war to gain them. Which is not reallly a moral argument, just an observation of human nature. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sentient-computers-have-rights/17911.md?page=4)