Here's my idea. If having a soul is what makes us human (which may not be true but I accept it as truth just for the sake of this idea). Then there must be something special about our bodies that makes them usable as interfaces to a soul. Or we'd have plants and animals that are thinking, dreaming, and creating. I'm guessing that our brain is the interface with the soul. Maybe its the amount of brain power we possess that allows it to connect to the soul. Now this brings up an interesting idea, could we create a machine that was powerful enough that a soul could incarnate into it? Thats really where I'm headed with this idea, If (and again i'm skipping over the if to discuss things past the if) AI would be impossible because thinking and creating require a soul then could we connect a machine to a soul? I see some practical problems with that as a soul may not want to connect to our machine and just because we can create a machine as powerful as a brain doesn't mean we have the scientific ability to go out and force a soul into it. So, I'm looking for a little feedback on this idea. Whaddya think? Adam
Another view to consider: Perhaps it isn't the soul which makes us human. Maybe it's just our genes and our brains and our upbringing. If that is true, then there is no fundamental supernatural barrier to overcome to achieve intelligence. In fact, I would argue that even today's computers have limited intelligence. It is only a step to human-level intelligence for non-biological machines, which will not require something entirely new.
james do you think macs and win machines will get along? what if the macs think the wins smell musty? or the wins find the mac appearance too colorful? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
James R, Yes I understand that is also a possiblity, I am not really trying to discuss that question though, I want to go past that question and look at the consiquences to artificial intelligence IF a soul IS required. I'm trying to open up an alternate discussion because usually once someone decides that a soul is required for humanity that stops the idea of intelligent machines. I want to talk about intelligent machines if we do have a soul.
Or we'd have plants and animals that are thinking, dreaming, and creating why do you assume they dont?
Some questions for people who believe we have a soul: What do you think connects your soul to your physical body? What do you think of the idea of creating a machine that has the ability to interface with a soul? While thinking about these questions I came to the conclusion that the machine you create only needs to be as complex as the point when a soul incarnates into the body of an unborn baby (probably somewhere in the third trimester) that is still insanely complex by todays technological standards but not as complex as a full grown human as a lot of our brain growth and development goes on after we are born.
TheLSDJ, You must define what is meant by "soul" for this to make any sense and to determine whether your question can be answered. Note that we already know that the brain generates thoughts, memories, and emotions. We know this through countless experiments on the human brain and observations of those suffering from varying degrees of brain damage. Now perhaps this doesn't rule out that a soul might be involved, but it is difficult to see any purpose or role for a soul.
I think plants, animals and rocks have a spiritual attachment to the rest of the universe but I don't believe they have the individuality that a human with a soul has. Cris, You are right, I probably should give a better definition of what I consider a soul to be, but because I don't have an absolute belief in a soul I don't really have a definition. Lemme think on it a bit and I'll get back to you Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
What do you think connects your soul to your physical body? right here dog! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! The Orch OR model. Insert shows an axon (top) synapsing on a dendritic spine on a dendrite within are a bundle of microtubules shown telescoping in scale (upper right). Each tubulin may exist in two possible classical states (blue, red) or a quantum supeprosition of both states, forming a protein qubit. Tubulin qubits interact/compute by nonlocal entanglement and reduce to classical output states as the solution of the quantum computation.
i am going to take it that individuality implies intelligent thought http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=257636#post257636 http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=257627#post257627 lets leave aside rocks. even i will not attempt to say rocks think plants? i'll get back to you on that! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
anesthesia supports orch or Anesthetic gases dissolve in hydrophobic pockets by extremely weak quantum mechanical forces known as London dispersion forces. The weak binding accounts for easy reversibility - as the anesthetic gas flow is turned off, concentrations drop in the breathing circuit and blood, anesthetic molecules are gently sucked out of the pockets and the patient wakes up. Weak but influential quantum London forces also occur in the hydrophobic pockets in the absence of anesthetics and govern normal protein movement and shape. A logical conclusion is that anesthetics perturb normally occurring quantum effects in hydrophobic pockets of brain proteins. The quantum nature of the critical effects of anesthesia may be a significant clue. Several current consciousness theories propose systemic quantum states in the brain, and as consciousness has historically been perceived as the contemporary vanguard of information processing (J.B.'s "technology = new perception") the advent of quantum computers will inevitably cast the mind as a quantum process. The mechanism of anesthesia suggests such a comparison will be more than mere metaphor.
Yes, monkeys have culture. Yes, sheep have recognition but that research doesn't really show they have any sense of self thats just the writer of that article making a statement with no proof. That pig can't guess what the other one is thinking, it only learns from experience. Yes the crow has problem solving skills but I don't consider that intelligence. And yes the self medication thing is cool but definatly not intelligence. Lots of animals are very 'smart' but that doesn't give them anywhere close to the individuality, creative and emotional abilities that humans have.
Ohh .Heck why apes don't do the trick? They posses all the above qualities (and not only they ,but chimps are almost human like ) .
If you read my original post you will see that this thread is not about the question of human or animal intelligence or even wether we have a soul or not. I wanted feedback on the idea of if we have a soul, what do you think of creating a machine that can connect to a soul, I'm going to ignore any replies that continue on with the animal intelligence thing because that is another discussion for another thread.
LSDJ, If the soul is as it is described in the page offered - a mediator between humanity and the divine - then we probably couldn't connect a machine to a soul or vice-versa. According to the page offered, the purpose of the soul is to learn from our lives as human beings.
If you were your soul woudn't you like the oppertunity to learn from life as a machine? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
