Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidKitson
The problems with setting the rules means that both sides have to play with them.
What if the soul isn't so much a construction of flesh and bone, but something more than that? If the mind is no more than a receiver for the soul like a radio is a receiver for a message?
Then why would an android or machine not be capable of possessing or attaining a soul?
Because it strikes me that to deny machines a soul is to deny the existence of god and if you do that, than you kind of kill off your argument that a soul exists don't you?
Seems to me as though there is no reason whatsoever that prohibits a machine from having a soul... Metal flesh, human flesh.... Really just both machines aren't they?
Whatever argument or rules you have start to break down once you examine the issues of what a soul is and how it attaches or connects to an entity.
At which point, the mechanics and materials that make us up don't matter any longer.
Just a perspective based on the rules as given. 
But then I like to see Androids as being simply another form of human and should not that which is created by human to be human still be human? For that matter, what does it truly mean to be human?
Regards
David |
I was being totally facetious, but you wrote a super good response!
I have not thorougly studied the philosophical history of the concept of "soul," so I actually do not know a lot of things about it. Here's a few things.
Animals do not have souls, though they have the ability to think, feel and communicate to some extent. Now, I make that statement not
knowing if animals have souls, but the book that I derive the concept of soul from speaks of "breath" and that is only bestowed upon human beings.
I believe C.S. Lewis argued that animals can sort of "obtain" a souls through relationship with humanity. I have not read the argument, so I am only citing it as an example.
So there are a lot of possibilities.
When I raised the idea of ethics, the questions you asked are some of the very questions I was thinking about. Scientists pursue AI without considering the ethical, moral or philosophical implications. Add that
tons of literature dealing with AI -- the very first, and some of the most famous -- depict massive consequences to humanity, often leading to mankind's destruction. And yet, we pursue AI unabated!
-Pie