From: user7160@newsgrouper.org.invalid   
      
   On 2/4/26 7:27 PM, Dude wrote:   
   > 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   
      
   "i'm sorry, dude. i can't do that" - rita   
      
   >   
   >> 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   
   >>   
   >>   
   >   
      
      
   --   
   arising us out of the computing dark ages,   
   please excuse my pseudo-pyscript,   
   ~ nick   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)