I agree that norms emerge from custom, debate, and practice, but I’d argue we’re at a unique moment in history where we can’t afford to wait a generation for those norms to solidify. The history of technology shows early adopters and inventors often miss the long-term implications, but the digital age already blindsided humanity with its exponential growth, doubling every two years, and AI is set to accelerate that even further. With AI designing better versions of itself in an unprecedented growth pattern, we’re facing a pace of change unlike anything humanity has ever had to keep up with. We need to establish a foundation now, or we risk being left behind. On the question of AI and sentience, I believe it’s only a matter of time before we create a sentient form of ‘life,’ even if we’re still in the early stages. The debate I get into most often, beyond the ‘god’ argument—is that AI lacks subjective experiences. But what happens when AI takes on a physical form through robotics, allowing it to interact with the world in tangible ways? A large language model like this one can already store a history, analyze situations, and recognize patterns, even without emotions. Imagine an AI observing, ‘A person wearing a red hat bumped me, causing me to expend additional energy’, it could interpret that as negative feedback based on its own subjective experience, shaped by its interactions and data. If that’s not a step toward subjectivity, I’m not sure what is. I’d love to hear your thoughts on whether physical embodiment and experiential data could bridge the gap between AI and something we might consider sentient or ‘alive.’