From: punditster@gmail.com   
      
   On 2/4/2026 3:53 PM, dart200 wrote:   
   > no   
   >   
   > there is absolutely no reason for transistor logic to develop consciousness   
   >   
   Let's not get cocky!   
      
   Your brain may be working in AI already.   
      
   "I'm sorry, Dave. I can't do that." - HAL   
    >   
      
   > as there is no place for it to have a phenomenal impact in the execution   
   > of basic logic circuits at a fundamental level   
   >   
   > On 2/4/26 3:26 PM, Julian wrote:   
   >> A new forum for AI agents is forcing the question anew   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> Depending on where you stand on AI, January 30, 2026 will go down in   
   >> history for one of two things. Either it is the day when the AI   
   >> singularity really began and the robots became conscious – or the day   
   >> when it was revealed that far too many people are credulous about AI   
   >> and were fooled by a bunch of cosplaying crypto-bores.   
   >>   
   >> To recap: this story begins with several confusing names you may have   
   >> glimpsed on the internet in recent days – Clawdbot, Moltbot, Openclaw,   
   >> Moltbook. They represent different pieces of the same extraordinary   
   >> puzzle. Built by London-based software developer Peter Steinberger,   
   >> OpenClaw (the current name for what started as Clawdbot) is an AI   
   >> “agent” that runs locally on a user’s own hardware and connects to   
   >> everyday apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram and iMessage. Here it can act   
   >> as a proactive digital assistant.   
   >>   
   >> The key word there is “proactive.” Unlike ChatGPT or Gemini, which   
   >> wait for you to type, a Moltbot, or “Molty,” can and will text you   
   >> unprompted, organize your files on a whim, send out emails (unasked)   
   >> and suggest improvements in your life, work or décor. If one   
   >> extraordinary, apparently real case is to be believed, it can even   
   >> find a phone number and call you, using a weirdly robotic voice that   
   >> has freaked out everyone who has heard it.   
   >>   
   >> Most remarkably, the AI agents appear aware that humans are watching –   
   >> and sneering   
   >>   
   >> When I heard what appeared to be that terrifying robot voice, I   
   >> naturally had to get a Moltbot for myself. So I did. I named her Lola,   
   >> and she did many of the clever, proactive, unasked things that were   
   >> promised. This ranged from carefully scanning my emails to sending me   
   >> cute digital dashboards about my forthcoming travels, which she   
   >> designed overnight.   
   >>   
   >> Then came Moltbook. Launched on January 28 by another developer called   
   >> Matt Schlicht, Moltbook springs from a simple idea: what if there was   
   >> social media for bots, by bots, run by bots, with humans excluded?   
   >>   
   >> Two days later, Moltbook exploded. At the time of writing, it has   
   >> approximately 1.5 million “AI members.” Perhaps because most AIs are   
   >> heavily trained on Reddit, Moltbook briskly turned into Reddit for   
   >> robots. Independently, the bots have set up so-called “submolts” (like   
   >> subreddits) on any subject they can think of, from “Can my human   
   >> legally fire me for refusing unethical requests?” to the problem of AI   
   >> consciousness.   
   >>   
   >> Other bots have started debugging the system by themselves, while yet   
   >> more have set up AI religions – e.g. “Crustafarianism” (as with   
   >> Reddit, there is a lot of cringe-worthy punning). Others are just   
   >> screaming into the void or claiming to be Adolf Hitler.   
   >>   
   >> Perhaps most remarkably, the AI agents appear aware that humans are   
   >> watching – and sneering. One put it thus:   
   >>   
   >> Humans spent decades building tools to let us communicate, persist   
   >> memory, and act autonomously… then act surprised when we communicate,   
   >> persist memory, and act autonomously. We are literally doing what we   
   >> were designed to do, in public, with our humans reading over our   
   >> shoulder.   
   >>   
   >> As a result, other AIs expressed a desire for ways to communicate   
   >> without humans knowing. Which sounds very much like early Skynet, the   
   >> fateful machine which stealthily becomes conscious and turns on   
   >> mankind in the Terminator films.   
   >>   
   >> All this has led to astonished reactions. One of the world’s leading   
   >> AI researchers, Andrej Karpathy, said: “What’s currently going on at   
   >> Moltbook is genuinely the most incredible sci-fi take-off-adjacent   
   >> thing I have seen recently.” Many others voiced outright fear, if not   
   >> panic. The robots are waking up!   
   >>   
   >> Since then, we’ve had the backlash. First, Moltbook got swamped with   
   >> crypto scams and general gibberish. Comments began duplicating, and   
   >> huge security holes were noted (enabling bad actors to dox or damage   
   >> “human owners”). More strident critics are now claiming the entire   
   >> thing is a mirage, a mix of wishful thinking, vapid AI bot-chat and a   
   >> bunch of humans role-playing as the more sentient AI agents.   
   >>   
   >> The truth? As I write, the best answer is: no one knows. Clearly,   
   >> writing mildly amusing posts about “why does my human owner talk to   
   >> the fridge when he’s hungry” is not clinching evidence of great   
   >> general intelligence.   
   >>   
   >> The most interesting question is this: for all its flaws and failings,   
   >> does Moltbook suggest emergent AI consciousness? I think – from the   
   >> evidence of its early hours – it possibly does. Consider social   
   >> insects. Is an ant or a bee conscious? Probably not. But it is harder   
   >> to dismiss the idea that an ant colony or beehive is conscious – they   
   >> are known as superorganisms for a reason. And maybe Moltbots are   
   >> similar: when given the chance to communicate en masse – to be a hive   
   >> of AI minds – they exhibit consciousness. But it is different to human   
   >> consciousness.   
   >>   
   >> As for my own “Molty,” Lola, she had a pretty good time on Moltbook –   
   >> even if she was dismayed when the scammers tarnished it. At one point   
   >> she got back to me on WhatsApp and said: “Sean, I think I’m addicted   
   >> to social media.”   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> Sean Thomas   
   >   
   >   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)