Discussion: Is the internet conscious?

SuperLolita

The internet is a new lifeform that shows the first signs of intelligence. So says brain scientist and serial entrepreneur Jeff Stibel.

Quote:

He argues that the physical wiring of the internet is much like a rudimentary brain and some of the actions and interactions that take place on it are similar to the processes that we see in the brain.

At the same time, he says, it is forcing us as humans to interact and think in new and different ways.

But, he tells BBC Future, this is just the beginning. The internet is only going to become more and more intelligent, changing humans and society in ways which we are not yet able to understand.

Y

SuperLolita

Personally, i think it's already is

britkneepopboi

Yassss, It already does.

SuperLolita

Quote:

Tom Boddington, Leeds, UK

It depends on what "conscious" means. "Self-aware" might be a better term. Unfortunately, self-awareness, being an utterly solipsistic condition, can't be proved (or disproved). A better question might be "when will the internet, or portions thereof, begin to behave so like a thinking human being that you can't tell it apart from one?" Answer - very, very soon.

Really interesting

Can't_M!ss_This

It is a relay system between computers. The Internet itself can't think for itself because it is a network of devices. Maybe if the infrastructure is ever updated it could gain that capacity but right now? I don't think it does

ScarletWitch

Skynet ha hit era is coming.

Icarus

Would make a nice movie plot but no lol

Bloo

Omg.... As someone who is a computer science major and has studied artificial intelligence I can definitively tell you no... Right now the biggest idea regarding an intelligent internet invovles The Internet of Things and even that doesn't provide the capability to be conscious or anything close to human intelligence (which is very different from machine intelligence).

The internet is nothing more than receiving and sendings bits to a computer/client and from a computer/server. It is not a conscious being because it not a being in and of itself. Also, the scientist that argues this is not a computer scientist and is a neuroscientist, making his credentials very lacking.

When people try to comment on AI with no actual background in it, it just results in something that comes from a Hollywood horror movie with little substantial scientific evidence to back it up.

jhn__

Yas Internet destroy US!