Self-Aware Machines

"Without sensibility no object would be given to us, without understanding no object would be thought. Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind."

- Immanuel Kant, "Critique of Pure Reason", Datalinks

"I swear sometimes they're watching me."

- Bozon Pete, Shift Foreman, Metagenics Biomachinery Division

Self-Aware Machines is a Build technology in Alpha Centauri.

Background
Following the advent of Digital Sentience (D10), computers have only one great leap left: the evolution to Self-Aware Machines. Advances in N-Space Compression (D11) provide the storage capacity needed for this technology. These machines are capable of complex, higher-order thinking, and value the experience of existence as much as any biological being. As with other living organisms, self-preservation is paramount for these specimens.