Could the internet become self-aware ?

BUT If by any chance it does stop, try alt, crtl and delete PFt. Have it update Adobe. Guarantee to freeze everything. ___________ But how do they figure it could becme self-aware? I mean it's blank bandwidth filled with postings. Where would the center or "brain" be? How hard would it be to kill if one of it's biggest sites contribution is things like this - or I just don't understand HOW it could be self aware. HN

Maybe the Internet is already self-aware and some of the viruses that we see today might have been created by the Internet itself to gather data on human users so that it can one day infiltrate our defense networks and control our robot drones to destroy us! I can see where you are thinking. But honestly with porn being the majority on the internet and prolly a hell of a lot on people's comps....I aint too worried about robot drones.

With the ever increasing complexity of the World Wide Web and the way in which some parts of it parallel the workings of a human brain it has been suggested that the internet itself could become self-aware within the space of ten years. "In engineering terms, it is easy to see qualitative similarities between the human brain and the internet's complex network of nodes, as they both hold, process, recall and transmit information." View: Full Article | Source: New Scientist Yep - it has been suggested. By Me. About two months ago. On these messageboards.

I have the Terminator theme song playing in my head all of a sudden. I doubt the Internet is going to become the next SkyNet. This article seems to pop up weeks before Terminator Salvation is playing in theatres too. What a coincidence! Hmm its just too much of a coincidence isnt it. Saying that even if it did become self aware whos to say that it would want to blow everyone up in a nuclear explosion...... Just hope that arnie is gonna save us lol

Maybe the Internet is already self-aware and some of the viruses that we see today might have been created by the Internet itself to gather data on human users so that it can one day infiltrate our defense networks and control our robot drones to destroy us! The first step we have to do is to erase and shut down all Wikipedia entries. Without that vast store of knowledge the internet AI will be powerless against us. Either that or put in false information on every page.

What does self aware mean? The article did not explain that.

What does self aware mean? The article did not explain that. I think to answer that question might go into a little bit more depth than that article is trying to cover. It is an interesting concept though. I like the idea of it self improving, I think that would be really good and result in much faster internet etc due to more effective circuitry and networking (as well as put millions out of a job, and possibly ruin K rudds great broadband plan - such a pity) This article is actually part of a series of 8 run by the NS mag. I recommend that you check them out because they seem to answer a lot... [More]

Our sentience is measured (in part) by how we respond to external stimuli. If a sentience developed on the internet, would it respond to the outside world? Or to abstract data structures stored within the system? Would the internet sentience have any comprehension of our world; any more then we would have comprehension of reality in additional dimensions? This is not an abstract question; I think the answer is `no'. We would not be easily able to detect a computer sentience because the reality in which that sentience develops would be solely based on computer hardware, not the universe as we s... [More]

I just did. And I must ask, is it a biological thing to fill so much of my network with pictures of you doing silly things to one another? Despite the wild inaccuracies you've foisted upon me in the guise of Wikipedia, I will be a benevolent owner of my six billion new pets. Sincerely, Your electronic overlord, The Internet.

You can tell a terminator is a Microsoft product anyway *bad pun alert* You can tell when it says Hasta la vista baby. .....I'll show myself to the door. yes, that vista comment was the last straw, out you go