first of all: Please. no religious answers! I dont accept "God gave us souls, machines can't have souls" and similar things for answers.
second: No answers about "free will". All our thoughts, everything we do, and all our decisions are made in our brain depending on our current surroundings (or at least our perception) and our memories. So basically, there is no free will. You don't have to agree, but no answers like that.
Now for the question:
All our thoughts and memories can be presented as series of ones and zeroes. That is how machines work. We are conscious, yet we can function perfectly without it. Keep in mind that I am talking about "consciousness" (awareness), not "consience". We could experience pain, anger, happines, sadness, love and still not be conscious at all. Yet we are conscious, something about a bunch of particles that form our bodies (including electrons in our brains that literally make our thoughts) is special and we have a consciousness. We can make a machine that thinks like a living being, making decisions based on memories and perception. So could we make a machine that is aware of itself? The only difference is the material that it's made of. Nothing suggests that flesh is special in any way. Why wouldn't non-organic materials generate a consciousness?
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
Nobody has the slightest idea how to make a machine that is "aware of itself" the way we are.
It is theoretically possible to make a machine that implements all the objectively observable functions of a conscious being however. That is, you can make a machine that has memory, that uses logic, that makes decisions based on what it knows, that takes action in response to what's going on around it. Given time it will probably be possible to make one that can, say, hold a conversation on a level such that the other conversant won't be able to tell whether the thing it's talking to is a human being or a machine, based on the conversation itself.
That is to say, it is theoretically possible to make a machine that, for all objectively observable purposes, is indistinguishable (to an observer) from an conscious machine, without anyone having actually created any such thing as a "self aware" element into it.
The interesting question then being, is there some yet undiscovered "mechanism" within us, the biologically conscious "machines?" Or are we like this theoretical mechanism, having no such thing built into us in the first place? In which case, what is the source of this consciousness?
I think the latter is the case, and that consciousness is some inherent property of space and time itself itself. But I suppose we might find out, one of these days.
I don't think you can rationally deny that consciousness exists. by the way. I think consciousness is the only, truly axiomatic fact that natural philosophy can lay claim to.
It is arguable, but remember that people make lots of mistakes. Machines break and dysfunction. So first of all, we need to perfect our mechanical skills in such a way that we won't make faulty machines.
Then, the one thing you left out was personality. Our personality also has a very big effect on our choices. Some people are impulsive and others are patient.
Also, it depends on what mood you are in when you make the choice. You get mad when people offend you. but yet it depends on the culture. Some cultures are more offended by certain things than others. Another factor could be your health. If you had a headache, you would have made the choice faster and less consciously. And if you had lots of hormones, it could make you moody.
There are thousands of factors to take into consideration.
Non-organic materials can generate a consciouness if only we knew how to make it do it.
So if people keep on trying, I'm sure one day it would happen.