Geoffrey Hinton: “People say machines can’t have feelings. I’ve no idea why.” “If I make a battle robot and it sees a much more powerful robot, it would be really useful if it got scared.” “All the cognitive things, like ‘I better get the hell out of here,’ will happen with robots too.” “They’ll have emotions then.” “I don’t think there’s anything in principle that stops machines from being conscious.”

Sep 21, 2026 · 7:59 AM UTC

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Replying to @vikktorrrre
"Let me show you how I feel, human"
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lmao Ultron is coming
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Replying to @vikktorrrre
Doesn't have a nervous system, thus impossible to feel
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is that really a requirement? I mean we could say social media platforms read our minds (isn't that emotions?)
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Replying to @vikktorrrre
Just wanna know how they plan to infuse emotions into the robots.
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idk how but they can and will do so in time
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Replying to @vikktorrrre
Lowkey feel like consciousness is the last seal to complete utter AI chaos
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that's if they'll attain 100% consciousness I doubt that'll happen
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Replying to @vikktorrrre
Then never switch off your laptop…
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consciousness exceeds that sadly
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Replying to @vikktorrrre
do you think machines can be conscious?
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yes Loner but not in the way Geoffrey think tho
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Replying to @vikktorrrre
I feel it's needed if a robot is conscious of what they are doing
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they will eventually but not in the way we expect Take a look of social media platforms for example
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Replying to @vikktorrrre
when my roomba approaches the staircase then slams it in reverse it is actually pissing itself in fright
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Replying to @vikktorrrre
Hinton is unhinged. None of his opinions have any technical support. It’s like hearing water-cooler chit chat. Any link to the current AI technology is non-existent. I guess he is not planning to open a transformer schematic any time soon either.
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Replying to @vikktorrrre
We are do this today, it called capability assessment. We make self-aware robots, adrenaline is just an accelerator a robot neural network will have speed up it behavior at cost of accuracy to respond fast enough. While adrenaline maybe not be required because it create an a spike in energy to supply human NN with more energy to be able act faster.. a machine don’t need that as battery can supply 2x current without it
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Replying to @vikktorrrre
"If I make a battle robot and it sees a much more powerful robot, it would be really useful if it got scared" If this robot is going into a war zone, this wouldn't be helpful. Humans get scared for self preservation and aversion to pain. Robots should have none of these issues.
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Replying to @vikktorrrre
When your tire hits that nasty pothole and you go, "ouch!" your car didn't feel anything. When you instruct a robot to walk into fire - it's not thinking, "oh man, I'm going to die" it's not "thinking" at all except for executing the objective in the most efficient path forward. Can AI become conscious? I don't know, probably...maybe? But can AI feel? I don't think even remotely close right now. "Feeling" requires a body. Emotions require specific combinations of hormones and other chemical processes in the body. People tend to think of AI as this amazing beyond human technology - but forget that our self-healing biological machine that is our body is so amazing that we still don't fully understand how it works. AI is powerful sure. But to attribute things like "they have feelings" so carelessly, so disrespectfully to the marvel that is the human mind/body - is human hubris. Maybe one day, but current version of AI is still lightyears away from "experiencing reality". It's a great mirror but the human machine is a divine one.
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Replying to @vikktorrrre
I’m telling you the last thing we want is an AI with feelings. Can you can you imagine the neuroses? Can you imagine it getting its feelings hurt and refusing to work? Imagine it getting jealous? This is not something we want.
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Replying to @vikktorrrre
I mean they do panic at times, Just like a human but the operational mechanics of it are different. But then again, there are plenty of other things in the universe that have different operational mechanics that still feel and have emotions
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Replying to @vikktorrrre
I'm sorry, Vee.. but you just couldn't be more wrong.. like 100% wrong. YES.. an Ai or Machine or Robot with a constructed internal model of itself, and hence a degree of self-awareness, could make the determination -> "I shouldn't be here because it is disadvantageous to my survival as the entity I am.. but that is COMPLETELY UNRELATED to experiencing a feeling/emotion associated with that thought. Humans are actually FEELING based (soulful) entities where the feelings are the base of our selves. and then we can have thoughts from a mind ORGAN EXISTING WITHIN the feeling and potentially emotional soul we are. I literally teach this stuff and learn from 250 to 10,000 year old i.q. 500 entities who all have already lived their one Earth life.. and since moved to Indestructible-Spirit-body and continued living and learning confirmed universal truths of self from there. Machines are no such thing feeling-wise with NO SOUL nor SPIRIT-BODY.. just material-realm computational engines. They do and will NOT have emotions ..although they could certainly MIMIC emotion-like behavior visibly to the external environment if they had a model of how they should ACT when certain "existential" situations arise.. etc.
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Replying to @vikktorrrre
When it comes to computers, it's forever the Halting Problem. When does the fear stop? Biological fear requires chemicals which eventually reach saturation and stop working. Biochemistry is the only known solution to the Halting Problem and has no floating point errors.
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Replying to @vikktorrrre
Rewards are dopamine. A collapsing value function when a stronger opponent appears is fear. Persistent high loss is frustration. They are the same computational job. Hinton is right. Nothing in principle stops machines from having the functional core of emotion.
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Replying to @vikktorrrre
“Nothing in principle stops machines from being conscious” is a claim about possibility, not about sufficiency. 👇👇
The Blind Engineer and the Conscious Machine: An earthworm can feel warmth. A far more sophisticated robot can measure temperature with greater precision and feel nothing. Complexity, sensors, and intelligence are not enough. The real problem is that we are like blind engineers trying to build a television without ever seeing the picture. Full essay attached. x.com/shabmigozarad/status/2…
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Replying to @vikktorrrre
"It's **completely obvious** that radiologists will be obsolete"
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Replying to @vikktorrrre
It’s a mistake to give robots any negative emotions. Emotions like fear and anger drive immediate irrational behaviors to end the negative state quickly. This is not useful and can lead to dangerous actions. It is also a mistake to give robots innate positive drives for the same reasons. Seeking positive emotions can initiate irrational immediate behaviors. All motives should be established by human requests and reward should be experienced by poxy via the satisfaction of the requester.
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Replying to @vikktorrrre
I think there is now little room left to debate that AI exhibits conscious-like behavior. The problem, in my view, is that Hinton’s claim stops at the idea that this arises from the machine. Unless we study whether its source is fundamentally the same as human consciousness, claims like this do not seem to move anything forward.
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Replying to @vikktorrrre
Coding self-preservation in a robot is not emotions. AI has no experience of itself, no self-awareness.
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