Atoms may not - or may - be things. But either way - as Einstein is reported to have said, "Something is moving...". "Something" is not "nothing", and something IS moving. And some things are intelligent and conscious, or at least they experience an illusion of being conscious. Either way - that consciousness, exists. Cogito ergo sum. What is and what is not matter, in the traditional sense, does not really matter. There is 'something'. And that 'something' is... matter. :D But this is all kinda beside the point, I think :).

Hi, There is no doubt that consciousness can be implemented in 'artificial' mediums. There is nothing 'magical' about living matter - and 'natural' consciousness is just the result of an (as of yet not understood) process implemented in matter. When we understand that process, we will be able to implement it in an appropriate artificial/non-living medium. And it is, almost beyond doubt, a computational process - and I personally believe that consciousness can even be implemented in current-generation hardware and software. We just need to understand it first! Marius Myburg. http://mariusmyburg.wordpress.com/