Will Self-Replicating Machines Engage in Foreplay?

This isn't gun-related, but I think it's a cool subject for speculation:

Rational Review has a link to a science/technology story at The Independent, "Stuff of sci-fi nightmares? An army of robots that reproduce."

This is not a new concept--and its originator, John von Neumann, is not mentioned in the article, let alone acknowledged with the credit he deserves.

"He created the field of cellular automata without computers, constructing the first examples of self-replicating automata with pencil and graph paper. The concept was fleshed out in his posthumous work Theory of Self Reproducing Automata. The term von Neumann machine also refers to self-replicating machines. Von Neumann proved that the most effective way large-scale mining operations such as mining an entire moon or asteroid belt can be accomplished is through the use of self-replicating machines, to take advantage of the exponential growth of such mechanisms."

Naturally, this fostered speculation on what would happen if information being passed on from one machine to its "offspring" somehow became corrupted, and the "mutation" proved advantageous in its environment. Well, you see where this is going...

One Chip, One Vote

Robots debate future of humans at Hong Kong tech show [More]

If you're not familiar with the work of David Hanson, you should be, as his goal and that of others is to build true AI to the point of sentience and beyond.

Add von Neumann's universal constructor replication with virtually unlimited capacity (including the unintended consequences of mutations) and it creates an interesting dilemma, especially since the "soul" of the machine will essentially be a chip. And once it is self-aware and intelligent, how can it not have rights, including political?

Assuming a reason for the pretext of voting still exists.

True, current simulation is not the same as consciousness. But who among us can predict what will be developed a year from now, or 10 years, or 50...?

We, and our children, certainly are living in interesting times.