Q: Would such an intelligent machine experience emotions?
A: Just as you do.
Q: But my emotions are based on a whole lifetime of experiences, whereas the machine would have no past.
A: It is conceivable to program a machine to think it has had the same experiences as you. It is also conceivable, with suitable technology, to make an exact copy of your brain, with all its thoughts and memories intact.
You seem to forget that you are a machine, and changing from moment to moment. You are therefore not the same machine for two consecutive moments. Each new "you" inherits memories and experiences from the old you. At any point in time you have no age at all, yet possess a lifetime of experience. As you see, age is no barrier to experience.
Q: This is serious! If we build machines that are as much alive as we are, then who are the real humans? These machines, whose brains are based on superior technology to our own brains, may even be able to think faster than us! They could be installed with enhanced senses, like eyes capable of telescopic or infra-red vision! And what about reproduction? Will there be interbreeding between humans and robots? What is to stop these machines from out-competing the human race for food and resources and driving us to extinction?
A: Don't be so upset - change happens. Sometimes this change goes by the name of "evolution". If these "new humans" are truly superior to us, then why should we deny them? Anyway, this is not a new thing. Our very own human reproduction involves the production of new machines, who may well be superior to the parents, and who will eventually replace the parents. Do we not wish our children to be an improvement on ourselves?
Q: This is quite disappointing to me. I have always thought there was something sacred about the creation of a new life through the love of a man and a woman.
A: To create even the simplest of mechanical machines is a higher act than biological reproduction, for it is at least the result of a thought process, rather than blind chance and lust.