[mindcrime]

Do hackernews readers think that computers will eventually have a "mind" and "consciousness" ? Or will it just be simulated?

Personally? Yeah, I do think computers will eventually achieve "consciousness". I don't think of consciousness as being anything magical or terribly special to the point that a computer couldn't have it. I generally think it's just a question of a sort of recursion where the brain is "hearing" it's own internal processing as it works. When we ask questions, run simulations (day-dream) and we "see" and "hear" those things, I suspect it's just some sort of feedback loop between internal modules of the brain.

I'd go so far as to suggest that some computer programs may already be conscious, and we just don't have any good way to measure/test that fact.