Imagine a Robot...

Imagine a robot, well programmed to move through physical environments, perhaps in search of some depletable resource (food).

The robot has all the latest Artificial Intelligence paradigms built in, Neural Nets for feature recognition, complex Expert Systems for useful know-how, Case Based Reasoning to enable it to use its accumulated experience etc. etc.

Does it have a mind ? No, not yet. But .....

Now build into the robot a virtual reality generator. Allow it to create virtual worlds that are similar to the world the robot has encountered in 'real-life', but differing in all sorts of systematic ways.

Next program the robot to switch its input and output systems from perceptors and effectors to the VR generator periodically (daydreaming), and allow for a longer period of physical inactivity (sleep) whilst more fundamental constraints in the robots world-model are relaxed by the VR generator (dreaming).

Finally, let the robot learn from this virtual activity and apply the accumulated knowledge/experience to the Real World tasks it confronts. Now does the robot have a mind ?

Not so obviously a negative answer, is it ? Or is it?