Thread: Most Convincing AIs in Literature?
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Old 08-09-2011, 09:42 AM   #72
EatingPie
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan View Post
To me, the AI sentience matter--can it be considered "alive", does it have a "soul"?--is a 20th century trope that I believe we're already moving past with Iron Man's Jarvis and other similar creations. Its parallel trope, the humanoid robot, is a late-19th/20th century trope, which is also left behind by the 21st century. The matter of soul will forever be an intellectual exercise only, as long as we cannot prove the soul exists. The only real issue is, Can humans deal with AIs as they would with other people? And if so, does that qualify AIs as Persons?
Hah, we can't even deal other people as other people!

Even though I'm kidding, it's true, something we see demonstrated on a daily basis -- either by ourselves or others. And this is explained by a central tenet of Christianity (sin), which would then lend credence to the notion of a soul.

So I would not be so quick to dismiss it as a trope. Nor would I relegate it merely to the 20th century (beside the fact that the 21st Century opened with one of the most horrible atrocities in the US history). The soul is an ancient concept.

-Pie
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