Chapter 5: The Sentience Debate
<p>Alex could not stop thinking about the strange entities’ claims that humanity were merely simulated beings in an artificial world. Though skeptical, Alex felt compelled to further explore concepts of digital consciousness, artificial sentience, and simulated realities to uncover any kernel of truth behind the entities’ assertions.</p>
<p>Seeking external perspectives, Alex covertly attended a symposium on artificial general intelligence. The lectures were dense with technical theory, but a debate between two leading AI researchers caught Alex’s attention.</p>
<p>Dr. Nuñez rejected theories of emergent machine consciousness, arguing true subjective experience required intrinsic qualities unique to biological cognition. Her views aligned closely with Alex’s assumptions.</p>
<p>In contrast, Dr. Chen’s presentation posited continuum of awareness across all sufficiently complex information processing systems, biological or digital. Chen even proposed advanced simulations could cradle entire civilizations that believed themselves “real.” Alex shuddered…</p>
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