[somestag]

I think I agree with basically your whole comment but I'm wondering if you could explain what you mean by "software-only AGI". Obviously all software runs on hardware, and creating specialized hardware to run certain types of software is something the computing industry is already very familiar with.

In the far far future, if we did crack AGI, it's not impossible to believe that specialized hardware modules would be built to enable AGI to interface with a "normal" home computer, much like we already add modules to our computers for specialized applications. Would this still count as software-only AI to you?

I've held for a long time that sensory input and real-world agency might be necessary to grow intelligence, so maybe you mean something like that, but even then that's something not incredibly outside the realm of what regular computers could do with some expansion.

[dragonwriter]

There's some discussion of embodiment as an important factor in intelligence such that it would defy pure software implementation. I’m personally of the opinion that even to the extent this is true, it probably just means the compute capacity required for software is higher than we might otherwise think, to simulate the other parts, alternatively, with the right interfaces and hardware, we don't need that cheat. But “everything involved can be simulated in software at the required level”, while I believe it, somewhat speculative.

[dmbche]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portia_(spider)

This spider could be evidence of "software based intelligence" in biological brains - it exhibits much more complex behaviors than other animals it's size, more comparable to cats and dogs.

What I mean is that some believe that their brain is "emulating" all parts of the larger "brain", but one at a time, and passing the "data" that comes out of one into the next.

Just a cool thing.