Hi Hermann,
But we should not mix up sources with processors and memories. Computers and robotics have fantastic processors and memories, but they are no real sources. Everything what they do has been programmed - to be understood in a very wide sense.
The real human source is its soul and it manifests itself in the feeling “I am”. There is no need, that humans perform in their life better than computers and robots, but they have a principally different quality.
Two main issues then: Source, and programming.
Source: It is not really clear what you mean here. I know you are claiming that a soul is the source but what is the soul generating? Are you claiming the soul generates ideas and emotions? But where does the soul receive its information? If you forget the idea of a soul for which there is no factual support then you should find my explanation below both far more simple and supported by evidence.
A source to my mind means external information. And for that information to be of use there needs to be a mechanism to process it. A brain is the processing mechanism and it receives all information through the bodily senses. If a soul existed and somehow claimed a new body at birth or conception then one might imagine that this intelligent entity would already be capable of ideas and knowledge. But that isn’t what we observe in a newborn child. Such a child has virtually no abilities whatsoever apart from basic bodily autonomous functions, and basic brain functions that support feeding, defecating, and activation of the senses. From day one the child cannot speak, and cannot control any of its limbs, in any coordinated manner.
All the abilities a child eventually acquires come from feedback loops formed by sensory inputs and ever-changing neural connections. When any random limb movement or vocal action receives a positive reaction then the associated neural connections are reinforced. This long process of trial and error results in what we see as the learning process. As abilities to perceive and understand external input improve then these add to further neural connections.
As the child grows then memories (neural connection patterns) absorbed from earlier experiences combined with the extensive processing abilities of the brain provide the new human with the opportunity to form new ideas, and to speculate. At an appropriate level of absorbed experiences and knowledge the child becomes self-aware. It can say “I am”. Where is there a need for such a thing as a soul? There isn’t.
Computer Programming: I work with the designers of compiler optimizers and SQL RDBMS optimizers, etc. These pieces of software are delving into artificial intelligence techniques where the results are often beyond the capabilities of a single human to accurately predict the outcome. The increasing complexity of our problems now require us to use semi-intelligent software to generate yet more software. Humans are gradually being removed from the programming function.
Around 10 years ago I watched a program using a neural network technique learn to calculate the square root of any number. It was only given a basic knowledge of symbols and then some examples of what square root equations looked like. From there it spent many hours learning until it could finally perform the calculations on any numbers. There was no human interaction apart from the initial examples. What impressed me the most was when the author stated that he really didn’t know how the program had reached it’s conclusions. It had learnt by forming random neural paths and adapting based on self-feedback, exactly like a human child.
But that was 10 years ago and neural nets are far more sophisticated now and computing power much higher.
So I think you are quite wrong to imply that because something is programmed it cannot generate original thought. In my simple example a computer program was able to learn how to generate a general-purpose algorithm by itself. Now consider the abilities of such a program given computing power of a 100,000,000 times the most powerful computers of today, and that is expected within the next 20 years.
Self-awareness I suspect is a matter of adequate processing power and the ability to learn from sensory input. A human is no more than a biological machine. And there remains no credible evidence to suggest otherwise or that a supernatural element has any function to perform. If a computer has the ability to learn then its intelligence and ability for original thought should be no different to a human, since humans have to perform the same learning processes.
Have fun
Cris
