Would an AI have its own emotions

[Onyx]

This is true, and leads to a particularly interesting thought experiment - could a human thinker devise a new emotion?

Yes and no?

We probably don't have the wiring to empathize outside of our wiring, just as we can't imagine a color that our eyes can't see. So it would be a mental exercise combined with a scientific explanation of the hows and whys that would be like thinking about ultra violet.

I think the result would be a facile mashup of human emotions that misses the mark, or a statement that will sound completely illogical in English. Ultimately, all human understanding comes down to empathy using our built in emotional states and analogies to the low speed, Newtonian world we occupy - so it will not be an unusual situation for us to pretend that we "get it".

 

[Mirannan]

Interesting points, but I would add that the vast majority of people think that a "survival trait" means only physical survival.
Emotions are essential for mental survival, i.e. sanity.
PS imo, love is not an emotion - it's a source of emotions.

I would argue that emotions are necessary for physical survival as well - some in a more subtle manner than others, and to include the survival of your genes.

Fear is obviously pro-survival under the right conditions. Sometimes running away as fast as possible is the best thing to do, and fear strong enough to cause an adrenalin rush might just do that. Ditto anger, because at other times fighting is appropriate.

And the softer emotions? Well, love would tend to have the effect of keeping a couple together - thus improving the survival chances of any progeny. Mother love is also an obvious survival trait.

 

[Brian G Turner]

In the meantime, a timely warning from the MOD in the UK about the potential dangers from game AI's:
Robots learning war from video games - MoD

 

[Onyx]

I would argue that emotions are necessary for physical survival as well - some in a more subtle manner than others, and to include the survival of your genes.

Fear is obviously pro-survival under the right conditions. Sometimes running away as fast as possible is the best thing to do, and fear strong enough to cause an adrenalin rush might just do that. Ditto anger, because at other times fighting is appropriate.

And the softer emotions? Well, love would tend to have the effect of keeping a couple together - thus improving the survival chances of any progeny. Mother love is also an obvious survival trait.

I think Stephen was saying that they serve both for mental AND physical survival.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I think some emotions - fear is the obvious contender - are necessary for physical survival. Some emotions have roots in the deepest, least mammalian parts of our brains.
But there are some - grief for instance - which can only have a sociological/cognitive source. Grief is impossible to explain in my opinion without recourse to a proper theory of the evolution of consciousness.
There are other emotions that are very difficult to explain - awe for instance.
But we can explain them all, I think, as part of a dynamic/cognitive theory of emotion.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Ultimately, all human understanding comes down to empathy using our built in emotional states and analogies to the low speed, Newtonian world we occupy - so it will not be an unusual situation for us to pretend that we "get it".

I think you're right here, and indeed this is the basis of Nicholas Humphrey's social intelligence theory of consciousness.