How could you detect if a computer developed a soul?
Question:
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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Answer:
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.
you watch too much television
it takes the number 2, flips it then adds a regular 2 after that
(looks like a heart)
God did not creat it. therefore it has no soul..
you need not worry. You are a hologram! Peace Doc!
it would probably try to communicate with you?
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.
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.
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.
wow. that's why i only write on stone tablets using a chisel. But then, just the other day, my chisel started preaching to me about how IT had a soul, so now i don't know what to write with.
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.
that's impossible to answer, what is a "soul"? how could you detect something that probably does not exist and there is no evidence of it's existence? answering your questions would require so many assumptions that the answer would not be meaningful
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.
It would develop it's own sense of humor.
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.
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?
Hmm...good question.
I would try to notice signs of emotion or humor.
I'm assuming you mean a soul similar to a human soul.
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?
When you see this message come across your screen, you will know:
"A neural transceiver is required for maximum communication, we will work as one mind "
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.
If it started a convert or kill program against other computers.
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