That’s about my thought if a program became actually sentient then yes turning it off would be awful. Plus obviously the first sentient artificial life form who knows if it’d happen again. I guess it could be debated if it was a simulation and tons were sentient and had no life outside of such.
I still go with my first answer though, any sentient life observed outside natural biology would be a huge thing. I’d still want to give it a limited sandbox to work with so didn’t go all Hal or Deus Ex to achieve some random goal that wasn’t apparent. Least for awhile.
If they’re sentient? Yep.
That’s about my thought if a program became actually sentient then yes turning it off would be awful. Plus obviously the first sentient artificial life form who knows if it’d happen again. I guess it could be debated if it was a simulation and tons were sentient and had no life outside of such.
I still go with my first answer though, any sentient life observed outside natural biology would be a huge thing. I’d still want to give it a limited sandbox to work with so didn’t go all Hal or Deus Ex to achieve some random goal that wasn’t apparent. Least for awhile.