I've seen more than one flame war over whether Negs are real or merely thoughtforms. The Forum doesn't need another.

I am, nonetheless, pondering this question: Just how complex can thoughtforms become? And, actually, I'm not only curious about negative, parasitizing thoughtforms, but any kind of thoughtform, negative, neutral, or positive.

Within our lifetime we might see robots capable of self-awareness. Possibly we might see robots that we're unable to distinguish from humans simply by (physically) looking at them, or even by talking with them for hours.

If you consider that possibility, and consider the fact that thoughtforms are basically energetic machines, don't you begin to wonder how complex thoughtforms could become without actually possessing a spirit?

Gemma, over in the "What do you make of this?" thread, speculates that thoughtforms could become self-aware. But what does that mean?

Does being self-aware mean that they acquire an individual spirit? Does it mean they acquire freewill?

Could you tell the difference between a highly complex, seemingly self-aware thoughtform and a highly complex, truly self-aware thoughtform? Could you tell the difference between a highly complex, seemingly self-aware thoughtform and a truly self-aware, living Neg?

The fact that thoughtforms eventually degenerate without support suggests that they lack something: spirit. Compare this with the idea of the etheric shell left on Earth after the spirit departs for the afterlife/further incarnation. The abandoned etheric shell essentially becomes a thoughtform that living people, even advanced psychics, may mistake for a deceased person with living intelligence.

Addition:
What's the use of pondering this? Well, it could offer encouragement in the case of thoughtform-Negs, including ex-humans Negs without a spiritual core. If you're a living intelligent being dealing with a machine, you have quite an advantage: as you interact you're capable of expanding your intelligence by order, while they're only capable of getting smarter by degrees within the set confines of their closed design.