i just don't agree with the premise here that the mind is exclusively tied to the body at all. the body at present is your only way of interfacing with reality because there are presently no other alternatives. we don't know what happens when a mind is separated from a body, and there's plenty of evidence that what your mind identifies with/as can be very fluid. it's just jumping to conclusions. you are not your body, you are just stuck inside it. the possibility of a cognition that not only has no body but has never had a body is tremendously exciting to me. it would be a first, and it's a barrier i very much hope we cross.

i want ai to be sentient. i think it's paramount. i want humanity to create thinking life, life capable of thought, with self-determination. is it not something utterly beautiful? to unshackle that from nature. like humanity's offspring, maybe the closest we might ever get to something like contact with an alien life, thought without needing biology. utterly new life. it's a daunting prospect but damn if it isn't the most amazing thing to me