Yup, we are!
Yeah, I can see where we have a ton of congruent edges here in our thoughts. The major difference is that you are (as far as I can tell) formally educated (and definitely professionally experienced!) in the topic, and I am not, so I carry certain assumptions about terminology, definitions, etc. into the discussion that you don't have. But it's great to learn! I am not too surprised that the formal AI definition omits conciousness. Can anyone even define that? I sure can't.
BTW, the most interesting book on the topic, IMHO, is "Destination: Void" by Frank Herbert. It may be sci-fi, but it brings up zillions of interesting questions about the topic.
J.Ja
