"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of the dreams."
Age 32, Male
Studentio
Ganymede
Joined on 1/7/09
Posted by Fubaka - July 19th, 2014
So in a response I got on my last post, I was asked to ask a simpler question. Well I came up with something simpler, at least on the surface. Answer me this, if you can:
What are you?
For extra credit:
Where do you end and something else begins?
Have fun!
Honestly, I firmly believe that there is more to a human being than just a meat robot. I feel like we can get all scientific and define divisions between thought networks and food supply networks and stuff, and thence come up with a way to divide and categorize everything, but really I feel that the truest sense of "who I am" and "where I end and something else begins" has to be related to something we simply cannot understand, something like a "spirit" or "soul" or the other type of "consciousness".
What do you think?
I think that robots get a bad rep.
Consider that one day, in a very realistic sense, we will develop AI that is capable of full human-level cognition. Once that happens, it may well be that our species will become obsolete. In much the same sense, we will be father and mother to a child which will surpass us in every respect. I believe, whether or not it can be said that such an AI has a 'soul' is completely up to the opinion of the AI itself, much like our identity is up to our own opinion. Even if an AI did have a soul in that sense, it would still not intrude on the fact that we can see all of its basal programming, much like we can for humans in the form of our DNA. Perhaps then, the soul is nothing more than the natural growth that results from such basal programming.
The questions I asked are tricky on purpose, and philosophers have been debating it ever since we started walking upright. (perhaps before even that) If our species can stave off destroying itself for long enough, we may just find the answers.
Thank you for commenting. :)
While we can see all of our basal programming, that does not prove that we are not influenced by a component such as an individual soul. Though robots may surpass us in all other ways, it is thinkable that it might be impossible for them to achieve the plane of consciousness/awareness that we enjoy.
To me, a robot is the same as a rock. They both, to some degree, react to external conditions. Only the robot is more complex and reactive. The robot is no more self-aware than the rock, though it's programming might reflect principles of self-awareness.
It seems most likely that we will never find the answers, but that is no reason to not search. :)
Maybe. We'll just have to wait and see.
Krichotomy
Oh, these are easy to answer.
1) I don't know.
2) I don't know.
Fubaka
Isn't that freedom?