11th July 1997
Some people name their computers. I have. Mine are "Anna" (A310), "Amy" (A3000) and "Angela/Araña" (A5000). The Pathfinder camera has a little smile, and no doubt Sojurner has a personality.
However the computer comprises of devices to store current (capacitors), devices to restrict current (resistors) and devices to allow current to flow upon certain conditions (diodes/transistors) among other stuff. The processor itself is little more than a collection of millions of switches. These switches all do their switching at an incredible rate and we see the end result as an image formed out of a collection of dots on the monitor.
The computer could be displaying a naked girl or it could display a Ficus. It wouldn't know the difference. Indeed, it is unlikely the processor is ever aware that it is displaying anything. It is just a bunch of binary values being shifted around in memory with some optional processing in between.
Think about when computers crash. Surely if the thing had any intelligence it would say "This ain't right..." and avert a crash. But no. The OS just has a special handler to trap invalid opcodes and memory access violations. There is no intelligence beyond that applied by the OS programmer when s/he wrote the OS; and the processor designer when s/he designed the processor.
So... Could computers ever have a personality? Could they ever show emotions? Could they even be compassionate? After all, computers deal in truths. Yes or No. True or False. Voltage present or absent. There are no greys. Even the so-called fuzzy logic is the acceptance of a range of conditions instead of absolutes - but it is still really only accepting absolutes and grouping them into categories.
The counter side are the inexplicable oddities affecting the machines. Some people have the ability to 'cure' computer faults by their very presence. Some people have had an over-the-odds score with ESP tests performed with a computer and what service engineer has never seen the computer that has major harddisc and memory problems, but is fine when moved a few inches to the side?
Such things are not easily explainable and could point to the basis of a simple lifeform inside the computer. Sure, it sounds like wild sci-fi and you'll be expecting quotes like "Don't disassemble Stephanie" but think about it. Your brain is a logic processing unit with inputs and outputs. You have a main data bus (spinal cord) and you have multiplexing (scratching your ear lobes might make your leg itch). Your synapses and nerves work on tiny electrical impulses. We can hook a 'scope up to a computer and follow its logic. We can hook an ECG to a human and get an idea.
The brain is even reckoned to be 'clocked' at around 11 to 40 hertz. What is
to say that your mind is not a vastly parallel, analogue, biological
processor?