(If you say it couldn't happen, are you saying you know the mind of God?)
Artificial intelligence is advancing all the time. The capacity to process information and reach creative, unforeseen conclusions will become a reality, possibly within only a few years. At some point the greatest inventor on the planet may survive on a diet of household current and have the initials IBM.
How would you know if the computer developed a soul?
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2007-03-12 12:48:05 · 20 answers · asked by NHBaritone 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
As others have said, we need to define "soul" to answer this question. There is the religious term, in which the soul is immortal, created by God, and only people have them. As an atheist, I reject this definition. If people have souls, then I think many animals do too. I'm a computer programmer, and have even done some recent research into modeling the neocortex in software. I agree with Raymond Kurzweil that we will have intelligent, even "spiritual" machines in our lifetimes. I don't think we'll be able to make an objective test to determine which machines have souls. But I expect there will be machines that people universally agree are soulful.
2007-03-12 17:26:22 · answer #1 · answered by Jim L 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I suppose that would greatly depend on what your definition of a soul is. To some, if it wasn't handed out by a deity it will definitely not have one. To others who look at it in other ways it could be possible.
To me, the 'soul' has more to do with our emotional self than any ethereal entity that will go on to live elsewhere. To me the greatest emotions - things like love and empathy reside here. So, given that, by my definition an artificial being could have a soul when AI technology has advanced enough to make it so.
2007-03-12 19:57:48 · answer #2 · answered by genaddt 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Define soul. How do you distinguish it from free will?
If the computer is set up to monitor its own development, then -in theory- it should be able to tell us when it did so. Especially if we feed it a steady diet of religion and philosophy texts.
It would be fascinating and instructive to watch the experiment. But the core of the problem will always be, what is a soul?
2007-03-12 20:12:00 · answer #3 · answered by The angels have the phone box. 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You sure do come up with some interesting questions ...My husband, who is a computer programmer, was just saying that inaninimate objects already have souls, ie: how many times have you referred to a car, or a boat, or whatever as "he" or "she", or named it? My computer is named Ringo. I guess, assuming that your computer has ai, and can hold a conversation with you, one indication might be that it starts having discussions with you, such as take place on Y/A? Maybe if it started asking you questions such as "who am i?" or "where did I come from?" I wonder if we would be "God" to the computer?
2007-03-12 19:58:41 · answer #4 · answered by beatlefan 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Inorder for a computer to have a soul, it's going to need: a MIND, a WILL, and EMOTIONS. And if it did have a will it could be anything; even down to killing it's owner...
But, I guess if you want to get technical, then in a way all computers are 'neutral'. And they are 'influenced' depending on the 'intent' they receive, whether positive or negative.
2007-03-12 19:56:54 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, I believe that when a computer has the ability to make its' own choices, sustain its' own life, and say "no" to something, then it's got a soul. If it can openly question what its' purpose is, it's got a soul. If it can decide what it wants to do, to be, etc, it has a soul.
2007-03-12 19:52:39 · answer #6 · answered by Maddy 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If the computer is able to tell you not to post this question, because it's dumb and will make you look foolish then you may want to consider it may have a soul. Even worse the computer may be smarter than you.
2007-03-12 19:53:16 · answer #7 · answered by Ron P 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There's currently no way to tell. No scientific quantification or confirmation of the existance of souls has been established. So, there's no way of knowing if you or I have a soul either.
2007-03-12 19:51:52 · answer #8 · answered by Pint 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
How could you detect if a human had a soul? Any such test that you could perform on a human could be performed on a computer.
2007-03-12 19:51:34 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The soul in the bible is nothing more than self. It would be equivalent to computer software. The soul is mortal and dies when your brain has no oxygen left.
2007-03-12 20:17:57 · answer #10 · answered by Cyber 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋