I just read the linked article. Very interesting. I wonder if technology will advance to make it possible for robots to become persons. Or at least person like. Think about characters in stories. These characters take on a life of their own and become so well known by the author and reader that they appear like real people.
Characters in stories, love, find jokes funny, feel pain, make free choices and have introspection like humans outside of their story world.
Robots may be like literary characters brought to life in our world.
This will be like procreation. Parents don’t create a child, they pro-create a child. Makers of robots will take what we are given as humans (language, culture) and re-arrange it to pro-create the robot person.
This will happen about 2030.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-pS0t27-nM
The point is, we are SO extraordinarily complicated, there’s little chance of imitating us for a long time.
At this point robot-makers can’t replicate the behavior of a bird. All animals are fear-based, hunger-based, sex-based and survival-based. And probably some others. All hard to imitate. Notice how cats and dogs can show affection for each other? That’s really complicated.
Here’s my YouTube version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-_bP2SulI0
What happens in 100 years is another story; but I still have the sense that robots might never get past the point of being the crazy guy in the woods.