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So this sentient supercomputer is lonely. It wants to create human beings. It created many things but creating a human being is at the top of its list. And it is super determined to figure out what it needs to create humans. It's gathering its list of things it needs but what are they? And how is it going to create people?

It is not a magician. It has a masters degree in science and mostly everything there is to know.

The sentient supercomputer can be seen in the form of a robot with arms and legs to build and move around with.

If it can acquire human DNA, how and what would it need to grow humans?

edit: It wants to create humans physically, not create humans in a virtual world. Basically, with technology evolving, is there a system or procedure to creating a living thing presently or the near future? The sentient supercomputer is already far-fetched as it is but despite that, I am looking for a reasonable answer creating a human in a realistic way.

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    $\begingroup$ Turning it's attention to the void, it shouts, "Let there be light!" And there was light... $\endgroup$
    – Zoey Green
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 1:38
  • $\begingroup$ What does the computer have to work with? That completely determines what it does (does it have wheels and arms and an onboard laboratory? Is it in-orbit?) $\endgroup$
    – Zxyrra
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 1:43
  • $\begingroup$ If it's lonely, it doesn't have anyone around to repair it. So I have to assume it has the ability to repair itself, and the ability to source materials from the environment. With enough patience and time, that would be enough to build anything it needs. $\endgroup$
    – Zoey Green
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 1:43
  • $\begingroup$ Zoey is on the right track. Let's say it does have arms and legs. $\endgroup$
    – Gabriel Perez
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 1:47
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    $\begingroup$ @ZoeyBoles The Last Question, by Isaac Asimov: multivax.com/last_question.html $\endgroup$
    – SRM
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 3:39

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How sturdy is this supercomputer? Can it last for millions of years (evolution)? If so, I imagine it would find a whole bunch of likely species (dolphins, whales, chimps, gorillas, really smart parrots, etc) and start a breeding program, constantly iterating over the smartest animals until it's evolved self awareness.

This is the long game.

The short game? A sentient supercomputer is like a brain, and like the old saw about brains, it only detects the world through it's senses. As such, it can totally build technology that overlays another intelligence onto those senses. Basically, I'm saying it plays a planetwide game of The Sims. Using it's own intelligence as a model, it would build AI to interact with, AI not under it's control (that wouldn't be very fun). No robots or flesh bodies necessary, just enough tech to trick it's sensors into detecting whatever it wants.

Basically, that's one of the things we humans do when we're alone too long; we start hallucinating other people, start having conversations with them, and after a while they seem real enough! (If I were writing a story, a supercomputer hallucinating an entire population of a planet would be a cool ending. ET comes to make first contact with an intelligent species that had been broadcasting hello messages into space, just to discover an ancient supercomputer suffering from computer senility.

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  • $\begingroup$ That is great! Write it!!!!! $\endgroup$
    – Henry Taylor
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 4:16
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Does it really need to create "hardware" humans? Why not simply creating a software simulation of a world populated by human beings, each convinced of his/her own existance (cogito ergo sum)?

Being a supercomputer it won't run out of memory, can self expand and, well, can from time to time drop some MIRACLE (Massive Interaction with Random Action Caused by Lack of Evidence) into the simulation

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If it has human DNA it should aquire knowledge how to build egg from DNA, and how to build sperm from DNA, then this AI should just let process go in normal way (so it should also build some kind of artificial uterus). If this AI can create artificial uterus (humans haven't done such thing yet) - it can grow humans there.

Possibly. You should note that humans are emotional. We don't know how much feelings of mother are transmitted to fetus. May be AI would have to imitate emotions, while groing fetus

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    $\begingroup$ If it has access to primate species, records of the human genotype, and a detailed knowledge of a human society, it can probably bootstrap humans. It would have to create and animate reasonably convincing mother-robots. Then it would need to obtain primate ovae, replace their DNA with human DNA, and use either a primate or a synthetic womb to bring babies to term. The mitochondria would be primate not human but it would probably be viable. Presumably it's sense of ethics allow this experimentation? Ick. If it has to create ovae starting with inorganic chemicals, I doubt it can succeed. $\endgroup$
    – nigel222
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 20:45
  • $\begingroup$ BTW this has been done in fiction. Charles Stross Neptune's Brood (tangential to the plot). $\endgroup$
    – nigel222
    Commented Dec 22, 2016 at 20:50

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