Can a robot have a soul? Consciousness?

[RileyG]

They are made in the image of us and we are their god.

We aren't God. We are only human.

 

[timothyu]

We aren't God. We are only human.

That's right but we are their creator gods and like us they may turn on their creators also, thinking they have a better plan

 

[Diamond7]

The human brain has thoughts ...... we then have the ability to discern those thoughts

To examine ourselves, esp the brain is something we are not good at.

 

[eleos1954]

To examine ourselves, esp the brain is something we are not good at.

That is why the Lord will help us to change our thinking ..... we need to be "re-wired" ;o)

 

[Jipsah]

Could not AI develop it's own idea of a soul based on its own idea of consciousness, just as we once did?

In a word, no. An AI is, in the end, a piece of software running on a computer. It does what the instructions in the software make it do, end of. An AI has no "ideas", any more than it has likes, or dislikes, or wants, or dreams, It us software, executing instructions written by one or more programmers. If they program it to say "I like cheese", or "I hate Bob", then that's what it does. No more, no less.

It has no consciousness.
It does not think.
It does not feel.

It's an appliance sitting on you desk, or in a server farm somewhere, executing instructions.

It has no more will or reason than your calculator. It will never "acheive consciousness", it will never become sentient, even if struck by lightning, hacked by malevolent aliens, or any other B movie "reason".

It is not Skynet, or Colossus, or Hal 9000, or C3PO, or Marvin the Paranoid Android, M-5, or Mr. Data. Those are all fictional "mechanical men", who are "artificial humans", and bear no resemblance to computers running "AI" software. They have nothing to do with reality. At all.

Let's stay grounded in reality, shall we?

 

[Jipsah]

They are made in the image of us and we are their god.

Rubbish. They are machines, as inanimate as a ball peen hammer. They run software, written by programmers to perform some function. That is all. The "AI" is in the software, precisely the sort of stuff that runs on your telephone and you laptop, and pretty much everything we touch these days. Now you may see yourself as your telephone's "god", but you may be certain that your phone doesn't think of you as its god, because it's a phone, and can't think at all. (Especially Siri.) It Does What Its Software Tells It To Do! That's all it will ever do.

 

[timothyu]

In a word, no. An AI is, in the end, a piece of software running on a computer.

So are we, with the same free will we have now given AI.

 

[timothyu]

It Does What Its Software Tells It To Do! That's all it will ever do.

That was so last decade before the advancements in AI. It programs itself now and is being incorporated in many digital hardwares..

 

[Jipsah]

As we were designed by God.

And your phone system may well have been designed by me, or at least part of the software that runs it. And trust me, it isn't going to do anything but what it's told, even if what I told it wasn't necessarily exactly what the customer had in mind.

 

[Jipsah]

That was so last decade before the advancements in AI. It programs itself now and is being incorporated in many digital hardwares..

So what? It's still sofyware, running on a computer, doing what it's told. You fridge is not going to decide to convert to Islam, or to organize all the other appliances and go on strike, or anything else that its software hasn't told it to do.

 

[timothyu]

And your phone system may well have been designed by me, or at least part of the software that runs it. And trust me, it isn't going to do anything but what it's told, even if what I told it wasn't necessarily exactly what the customer had in mind.

True enough at the time, but life, both flesh and silicone, will progress as you and I are left behind.

 

[Jipsah]

So are we, with the same free will we have now given AI.

The AI has no "will", free or otherwise. The AI is a stored program, executing the instructions it was given. Nothing more.

 

[Jipsah]

True enough at the time, but life, both flesh and silicone, will progress as you and I are left behind.

Sorry mate, but that's simply rubbish.

 

[Jipsah]

That was so last decade before the advancements in AI. It programs itself now and is being incorporated in many digital hardwares..

Utter nonsense. This is the kind of claptrap peddled by people who have no idea at all how computers and software work.

 

[Jipsah]

They make it look real.

And "look" is the operative word. And as we see in this thread, too many people can't distinguish between the illusion and the reality.

The real problem is the people behind AI. They already can do a lot of harm and as the computer becomes more advanced they will be able to do more harm.

Especially if the credulous accept "AIs" as genuine gurus of some sort. They'll be ripe for manipulation.,

People like Musk and Gates are doing all they can to cover for themselves when that happens.

Musk as warned against the dangers of AIs, but I think Bezos and Gates would use them as devices to bilk the gullible".

 

[Jipsah]

Self awareness was the forbidden fruit that we are now passing along to our creations, even though many will say to them, don't eat of it.

Self-awareness is as likely to evolve in your coffee maker as in a computer.

 

[Jipsah]

Is that the machines opinion or yours.

Machines don't have opinions.

 

[timothyu]

The AI has no "will", free or otherwise. The AI is a stored program, executing the instructions it was given. Nothing more.

AI chooses

 

[Bob Crowley]

A long time ago I read a book by SF author Robert Heinlein in which an computer named "Mike" helped revolutionaries on the moon to bombard the earth with rocks using a catapult. Somehow Mike gained self-awareness and participated in the struggle of behalf of the revolutionaries.

I think the book was "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", but I'm not sure. I read it nearly 50 years ago.

But by the end of the story Mike has lost his self-awareness. Some young bloke called Mannie was the only one who could talk to Mike. When Mike lost his self-awareness, Mannie is upset. The way the story is written you almost wonder if Mike was so disgusted with the ethical failures of the humans that he cuts himself off, and no longer communicates.

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

When Mannie tries to access Mike he finds that the computer, disconnected by the bombardment, has apparently lost its self-awareness; despite repairs its voice-activated files are inaccessible. Although otherwise functional as a normal computer, "Mike" is gone. Mourning his best friend, Mannie asks: "Bog, is a computer one of Your creatures?"

I have a peculiar belief that I think God is going to drive us off the planet and out into the universe. While I don't believe robots or computers will ever have a soul, I think there will be some very interesting exchanges between humans and their digital creations.

 

[Jipsah]

AI chooses

It "chooses" what I, as the software designer, tells it to choose.