 |
- Pea Size Brain - |
I find it hilarious when people claim that AI development lacks soul. It's like saying, "I love with all my heart," when we know the heart is just a working organ in the body. For humans to think of themselves as sentient beings and to create things for their own entertainment, I assume the concept of the soul is necessary, as is the usage of metaphors such as the one I just used. Some groups even make money off of these ideals, as seen in the commercialization of celebrations like the Catholic Church's All Souls' Day, or Day of the Dead, when Mexicans honour and remember loved ones who have died; Obon, when the Japanese honour the spirits of one's ancestors; Samhain, a festival celebrated by some Pagans and Wiccans; Pongal, a Hindu festival that honours and gives thanks to the spirits of ancestors and nature; and Ching Ming, a Chinese and Vietnamese festival, a time for families to honour and remember their ancestors by visiting and cleaning their graves and making offerings of food and joss sticks. There is no such thing as a soul apart from a human body, and an immaterial entity has no claim to basic civil liberties. Yet strangely, it is the so-called "soul" rather than the system that humans constructed—a structured economy—that gives them their consciousness, self-awareness, emotions, and moral character. Humans who allow themselves to be immersed in such sensory experiences are more likely to be truly alive. If you eat the forbidden fruit, you'll suddenly find the entire world appealing. Taking in the knowledge you gain is the challenging part of learning. Although AI can be helpful, ultimately it is up to humans to decide what is right and wrong in a given situation. In this universe, where humans happen to be the sole sentient beings, only humans may make the claim that they are conscious. Who knows? A time will come, however, when extraterrestrial beings visiting Earth will judge humans to be too reckless and tactless, much too backward, to be deemed sentient. The question then becomes, "What?"
