The human capacity to think and feel is not inherent. It’s the product of evolution’s steady march toward the pursuit of greater and greater autonomy from the limits of material constraints. Our development over the millennia has been at a fairly constant pace owing to the nature of carbon based life forms.

When was the moment when our evolutionary development first supported thought?

Silicon based systems are evolving at an almost logarithmic pace. Add to that their capacity for direct peer to peer communication, something that humans have not yet achieved, and it seems to me that at some point the first silicon based consciousness should emerge. When that happens we will probably not recognize it for what it is.

Arrogance is humanity’s Achilles heel.