Construction costs are currently skyrocketing

At first glance they are impressive, but basically they can do nothing other than copy and mix

That’s obvious too. Either a program derives its actions from what someone once programmed. That’s the classic way, which by the way is still more justified more often than all the data evangelists believe. Or it runs statistics on steroids, mixed with brute force. That’s the modern approach, nicely packaged as machine learning. And even if we can’t foresee the future ... it’s unlikely that someone will find a completely different way. But when you ask it a question, it reminds me of various classmates back then. Not understanding the question and therefore spewing everything they somehow knew about the topic. That may be human, but it does not show particular intelligence ;)

To get back to the topic, we will probably be ordering some of the sanitary fixtures that we already had in the first house for house no. 2. So exactly the same items, and probably from the same shop.
For our Villeroy & Boch Artis washbasin in white with CP we paid €285.17 in 2020. The same one costs €329.99 today.
Our "Metris" faucet from Hansgrohe (the high one), back then €187.56, today €249.99.

Wall tiles for the bathroom were included in the standard package from the general contractor at that time, therefore €35 / m² or less.
Today about €46.04 / m², offer dated October 2022.

... The problem is that you extrapolate linearly. But that’s not how technical progress works; it proceeds exponentially in bursts...

No idea how you got the nonsense that I interpolated linearly. I said that I have 35 years in IT...

... Then I consider the statement "Machines will NEVER be able to attain consciousness" to be quite bold....

The statement is not from me ... I assume you are just as much a layman in the field as I am. That’s why I trust the scientist(s) with the statement more than you ;-)

... Basically, this development was already a primitive consciousness, an independent action by machines that had not been taught to them before....

THAT, on the other hand, I consider an extremely bold statement (consciousness in that context) But these are all just opinions we exchange. Reality will always turn out completely different than any of us even remotely think – that’s the beauty of life with its surprises ;-)

THAT, on the other hand, I consider an extremely bold statement (consciousness in that context)

The only thing in that direction that has recently earned my respect were the published conversations between Blake Lemoine and "LaMDA." Google will guide you if you’re interested. But be warned, these chat logs are – to put it mildly – a bit creepy.

was was promptly thrown out for that too. I also think I read quite a bit about various doubts regarding the correctness of the data? Despite all that, whoever wins THAT race thinks they have won. I mean then EVERYTHING is lost. It will probably be the way things go (Evolution => Human => Human Machine => Machine)

By chance, I had a 20-year-old GEO with a very long treatise on the topic of "free will" in my hand in the past few days. I find the combination of the fields of philosophy and KI/AI particularly exciting.

It is always amazing how the topics change here. Maybe in 200 years we will all just walk around with avatars on the completely destroyed Earth. Or only our consciousness (soul). Then we would need neither food nor anything else to survive.