HMM: Is the Internet Conscious? If It Were, How Would We Know? “I have to agree with you that the lack of dialog on this point is concerning. The Future of Humanity Institute, which is devoted to assessing existential risk, has not said a word about a sentient web. Even billionaires who are fond of speculating about runaway AI can sometimes seem indifferent to the possibility that the internet might zombify the entire human race.It may be true that such an awakening is unlikely, but so was the possibility that the Large Hadron Collider would create a black hole that swallowed up the universe—and CERN commissioned a group of independent scientists to assess that risk before the project went forward.”

My advice: Don’t fear the machine that passes the Turing Test. Fear the one that deliberately fails it.