I think emotion is generated through more of a complex interaction between environment, our perception, our brain, our central nervous system and our bodies. I think my original statement was an oversimplification, but I wanted to counter the general assumption that seems to abound amongst AI people that a human-like sentience can be simulated simply by simulating intelligence or the brain.
If you think about some of the basic emotions, it seems that they involve environment, our perception, our brain, our central nervous system and our bodies interacting and feeding off one another to produce a response - e.g. fight, flight, or keep doing what we are doing (it feels good).
e.g. There's a tiger around. I see it through my eyes (body). I recognize it as a tiger (brain). I know that I will experience physical pain if the tiger attacks me (brain, but only relevant if I have a body). I fear the physical pain. I run.
Would I feel fear if there was no potential physical pain involved (e.g. if I had no body)?
Another (extreme) example:
Prozac > Mouth > Stomach > Blood stream > Brain > Happiness (generated from environment via body).
No. The computer would need to simulate the entire body, and the environment in which the body lives. Without the body, which generates desires and emotions, the simulated brain would have no need to behave in a human way, and therefore would not. Without the environment, the body and the brain have no actual needs to activate desire and emotion (food, sex etc.).
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I think emotion is generated through more of a complex interaction between environment, our perception, our brain, our central nervous system and our bodies. I think my original statement was an oversimplification, but I wanted to counter the general assumption that seems to abound amongst AI people that a human-like sentience can be simulated simply by simulating intelligence or the brain. If you think about some of the basic emotions, it seems that they involve environment, our perception, our brain, our central nervous system and our bodies interacting and feeding off one another to produce a response - e.g. fight, flight, or keep doing what we are doing (it feels good). e.g. There's a tiger around. I see it through my eyes (body). I recognize it as a tiger (brain). I know that I will experience physical pain if the tiger attacks me (brain, but only relevant if I have a body). I fear the physical pain. I run. Would I feel fear if there was no potential physical pain involved (e.g. if I had no body)? Another (extreme) example: Prozac > Mouth > Stomach > Blood stream > Brain > Happiness (generated from environment via body).
No. The computer would need to simulate the entire body, and the environment in which the body lives. Without the body, which generates desires and emotions, the simulated brain would have no need to behave in a human way, and therefore would not. Without the environment, the body and the brain have no actual needs to activate desire and emotion (food, sex etc.).