system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: What would it take for a computer to become "self aware"?
gpt
There are a couple of issues:

1. **What does being "self aware" even mean?**

This is the main problem. Even today, we still have a fantastically limited understanding of just how the brain works. Sure, we understand that neuronic nerve cells build up electrical charges to a certain threshold and then fire. What we do not understand is how these billions upon billions of neurons firing simultaneously manage to somehow form what we know as our consciousness.

To understand this, let's say you wanted to prove me that you were an authentic, conscious, self-aware being. How would you do it? There is a simple answer -- "I'd have a conversation with you." -- but that answer is not nearly comprehensive enough. If we could write a chat-bot to realistically hold a conversation, it would qualify as being 'self aware' even when we know it is not. (This is the basis of the Turing Test).

I am of the position that it is impossible to know whether anything other than yourself truly possesses consciousness. It's possible, however unlikely, that everyone else is simply following a routine script of actions and behaviors, while you are independently living your life. You can't prove consciousness, and you can't disprove consciousness.

2. **If we knew what "awareness" was, could we write a program for it?**

Maybe. Who knows. I'd lean towards "no" here, however, because the brain's chemical processes are analog, where as computers are digital.

3. **If we could write a program for it, could we even run it?**

At this time, almost certainly not. The computational power of our brains is magnificent. From some estimations I've heard, the brain can store 2,500,000 GB (2.5PB) of information, and can perform up to 100 Million Instructions per Second (MIpS). Some of the latest Intel processors can only perform 11,000 MIpS.