Should humans attempt to design computers able to think?

Answer 1

Wikipedia defines thought: Thought generally refers to any mental or intellectual activity involving an individual's subjective consciousness. No computer or computer component available today has subjective consciousness and the ability to make free decisions.

The question whether mankind should seek to design and build a computer able to think will divert people in proponents and opponents. There are ethical questions to consider and there is a primeval fear of competition to consider.

The ethical problem is whether mankind has a right to create intelligent life (in the form of a thinking computer), and subsequently to dominate this form of life in a relationship akin to slavery.

The fear of competition is the fear that we may find ourselves outperformed by the machine which we built (it may be much smarter that we are).

Research over the last several decades show that we are a very long way away from fully understanding even the most primitive natural lifeforms, and have not yet accomplished to successfully emulate the brains of simple animals. Therefore, one could argue that the quest for design and construction of a thinking computer is void in real terms, and that the aforementioned problems are unlikely to arise any time soon. However, it seems likely that continued research in this field will contribute to the general pool of human knowledge, in computer science and all other sciences alike, and should therefore be considered beneficial.