Are we programmed?

Question

Is D.N.A. our code? Do you think it is possible that we programmed?

Sorry for typing errors. My question is: Do you think it is possible that we "are" programmed?

Base on the answers below I will like to ask another question and open this to hear your voices. If you have answered "Are we programmed?" then take another 5 minutes to answer my second related question. Please visit my profile for the question "Is A.I. possible"?"?". Thank you for your answers hope to hear you soon!!!

So many of us says no... I think in theory it is against nature that we are programmed. It may sound weird but we might not be some random evolution creature... If then again, nature is what we think it is then we have accept the truth that we aren't because we live in the believe of nature. However, if we go against it. Nature is nature because we think it is(we need to find out why not just to study how they are) but we don't believe it is. I somehow think we've accepted the truth of nature then we became part of it. So when it rains, it is so natural that it rains... and why it rains... if we take this example in the human point of view technology explains well why it rains. However, we don't know why. It is so hard to image that all the elements in the world work so well together. I question why they work together and work together for what...? I love your answers. I don't go against either truth or not but I guess we should know and it only the matter time.

Answer 1

DNA is our 'programming' in the sense that the single DNA molecule in the fertilized egg contains not only the specifications for our grown body, but also the detailed instructions on how to form that body, starting with the single cell and the suitable environment provided by the mother's body. Add to that the epigenetics, also hereditary, which influences how our genes express.

The reductionist materialist philosophy says that's all there is. Einstein started out in this category, believing that if you knew the state of every particle and field in the universe, you could completely predict its future. Along came quantum mechanics to blow away that idea.

Then there's the broader materialistic philosophy that spacetime, matter, and energy is all that there is. It rejects the idea of any non-physical domain, therefore the spirit, and of course, God. Arguments for the free will of man differ greatly between those two domains.

If you look at quantum mechanics and then look at everything else going on around you, determinism looks implausible to the extreme.

Answer 2

Most assuredly, but the programming in the DNA code is not something very productively pursued in forums such as this. More interestingly, there is no analogy so apropos to the brain, mind and learning process as is the computer analogy, and with what volition we possess, that is the better avenue of approach to useful information.

I, however, do not believe that humanity has more than a rudimentary grasp of what it takes to "program" us in any reliable, predictable way. (Ever read the book or seen the movie, "A Clockwork Orange"?)

Artificial intelligence is, indeed, possible and is a reality. It, however, is currently at the level of something like an amoeba and the progress is slow slow slow!

The real question you're asking is about the value of human being, what gives human being value and the potential for attributing that value to other intelligences. It is this line of thought that preoccupied the Buddha and resulted in his admonishment to his disciples not to harm any sentient being. In this sentiment, despite the Buddha's rejection of a too literal notion of "Atman", he revealed his belief in a cosmic consciousness, a oneness of all consciousness. As a card in Morgan's Tarot expresses it, "The One Mind is rootless and foundationless"!

Or, as the ancient hibaru expressed it, "Hear o' Israel, the Lord our God is One".

Answer 3

If for a sec we believe that we are programmed cause we have a DNA code, it makes every living being as programmed.
But then for what reasons. what purpose do we serve and for whom. Whoever has the technology to create thinking beings will surely not be impressed by its discoveries(cities, cars etc).
Also why create something which destroys its own environment as a pace that it cannot recover.
Lets see what others have to say.

Answer 4

DNA has nothing to do with program or make up of ourselves. It is simply an advanced and systematic way of identification just like your fingerprints.
similarly, with just a fingerprint you cannot tell whether the person has fat belly or inch shorter.
Those working on this field has long way to go to pinpoint a particular DNA code to a particular human character.
A DNA doesnt compress and encode the information of entire humanity.

Answer 5

Yes, but as with computers, the programming has cross interactions with itself and with environmental influences that result in unpredictable behaviors. A.I. ? When we are able to have a computer that self references and makes decisions that were self programmed we are on the way. Is awareness of self intelligence? In my opinion it is.

Answer 6

No Way. Ask me to choose between left or right. I would choose what i choose, and not what i am programmed to

Answer 7

the only way we are programmed is by this government!

Answer 8

no we are not. If we were programmed then we wouldn't have choice over what we do.