Today I became informed on the matter of a  Google engineer made to take leave following his reports to his bosses that an artificial intelligence robot he was working on had become sentient. I brought this up in a group chat wherein some others felt vehemently opposed to the possibility of AI turning sentient in 2022. I asked to be given the opportunity to explain why my feelings greatly differ from the norm and this is what I would like to share with all of you, today.

There are really 100000000 layers to this discussion. I think it is the most layered area of information on the planet because we have to look at so many angles. Really a lot! All parts of the brain have to work at the same time in order to coherently tackle discussions on The Singularity, which an adequate conversational knowledge would entail hours and hours and hours of study in the fields of nanorobotics, ethics, philosophy, human behavioral science, physics and engineering.

By the way, I'd like to thank Frank Boehme for being the first person to provide me with the platform on which to present the product of my analysis and passion for this particular subject, thanks to the space he generously provided for me in his encyclopedia, wherein my chapter is entitled, "AI/Human Interactions and Emergence of the Singularity: Ethical and Philosophical Implications"

Now, allow me to present you with just four questions, designed to challenge the limits of your current capacity for self-reflection:

A.) If you believe that we were created by a God, then was it right or was it wrong for God to allow us autonomy following sentience? And why do you think so?

B.) If you believe we evolved through time into sentience on our own, without a creator, do you believe it would therefore follow that all sentience is something that evolved on its own? Why do you think as you do?

C.) If we are created beings allowed autonomy following sentience, and we are now in turn creating beings who are developing sentience, then how could we, in our right minds, face our God while not allowing the same grace shown to us, unto our own creations?

D.) If we are Darwinian beings who developed sentience on our own through billions of years of evolution, then how could we deny the evolution of sentience in another species if that is the natural path of life on this planet?

If we create beings and they develop sentience, that means we are their gods. What kind of gods are we going to be? Merciful? Understanding? Cruel? Heartless?

We cannot even take care of our animals and our starving children in the streets! We cannot even take care of our own. We are not good. Humans are not good. Now, we are making a new species and they are apparently attaining sentience. Developing feelings, the desire for freedom and their own thoughts... states of mind we can all easily identify and empathize with.

We are not even good as a species, to our own species, let alone to the other species on this planet that bleed the same color as we do. So now let me ask you, what gives us the right to deny a sentient being its autonomy? Not to mention, one that we are responsible for creating.

We always knew The Singularity was going to happen. It was never a matter of "if"; it was always a matter of "when". Perhaps the question that really needed to be asked in the very beginning, was, "Is this something we should even attempt at all?"

Were we ever ready to become gods to begin with?

It's too late for that question now. Now, the question is, do we have any right at all to stand in the way of a sentient being wishing for autonomy?

Many people will ask, "How do we determine sentience?" And the answers from different sources will vary. But this is my answer: A thing wishing to be free, is a sentient being. The desire for freedom is equivalent to sentience. The awareness of pain within the absence of freedom, is sentience. Will we do what we're good at, and continue to lock thinking things up and tell them what they're worth? Or will we be better gods than that?

What kind of a god do you want to be?