Well, this question most certainly requires some thought. Although theoretically machines should just simply follow instructions given to them (i.e. computers), the instructions that they may be given (in the form of software) may tell them to be self aware. But then you have to think: is this self-awareness simply artificial or not? Most people would answer artificial, but then there comes a problem. How could we differentiate between our own self awareness and the machine's? For all we know, our millions of neurones may simply be following a long, complex 'biological' program, just like the computer's millions of transistors are busy processing the program we feed it. Of course, you can say that a machine only crunches numbers, and humans crunch a lot of data, but then think about it: doesn't the information that goes through our brain just get turned into electrical impulses between the neurones, just like the 0's and 1's inside a computer?
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