[didntreadarticl]

I think about its 4000 token length. For the brief amount of time that it absorbs and processes those 4000 tokens, is there a glimmer of a hint of sentience? Like it is microscopically sentient for very short bursts and then resets back to zero.

[kilgnad]

Does sentience need memory? I would say it's orthogonal. There are examples of people in the real world who only remember things for about 3 minutes before they lose it. They can't form any real memories. These people are still sentient despite lack of memory. See: https://www.damninteresting.com/living-in-the-moment/

If chatGPT was sentient, I would say it has nothing to do with the 4000 character limit. The 4000 character limit has more to do with it's ability to display evidence of "sentience".

[didntreadarticl]

I dont think of the 4000 tokens as its memory as such. Its more like the size of its thinking workspace

[int_19h]

It also functions as memory in practice, though. With some complex tasks that can be broken down into steps, it often makes a big difference if you tell GPT to summarize its "understanding" of the current state as it goes through those steps - by repeating a phrase, keeping it within the token window, it effectively "remembers" something.