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I think that statement "ultimately a machine" is hinged upon a philosophical view that existence is simply the result of various material interactions, chemistr

I think that statement "ultimately a machine" is hinged upon a philosophical view that existence is simply the result of various material interactions, chemistry, physics and what have you that is pretty common in our culture but also originates from the view of a clockwork universe with divine creator. Nowadays the idea of a creator is often omitted and people suggest that its just everything is just caused by the consequences of the big bang or what have you. I have been suspicious of this kind of reductionist view but also found that a lot of alternatives fly way too quickly into nonsensical dogma without acknowledging that they are just making up something to feel better. The "truth" I like to embrace is kind a panpsychic panspermia pantheism that recognizes that we as humans with limited perception and knowledge are probably part of much larger processes and there are emergent entities created in part through our minds/bodies. These entities can be us as individual humans or something like a family, church, company or government composed of many individuals but acting in concert as a larger entity.

bserge 6y ago
I'm not denying the creationist idea, either (life seeded by some entities sounds plausible to me; just not the almighty bearded guy in the sky, sounds very dumbed-down). And I think consciousness is more of a virtual machine. Could be compared to a "natural AI" of sorts - that arose on top of our primitive animal selves. But that's just my daydream theories. Groups of people can indeed behave as different/new entities. It's just that the physical composition of our bodies are knwon down to the protons (and even deeper). How they all work is a different question, but there is a specific way they work. Just have to figure it out. When I say machine, I mean it as "construct" of any kind, not just electromechanical. Imo, it would be really nice if we could grow and reattach whole body parts, or grow bodies for transplant, but obviously those ideas bring a lot of negative connotations and ethical problems, so we're investing in electromechanical alternatives instead.

bserge 6y ago

I'm not denying the creationist idea, either (life seeded by some entities sounds plausible to me; just not the almighty bearded guy in the sky, sounds very dumbed-down). And I think consciousness is more of a virtual machine. Could be compared to a "natural AI" of sorts - that arose on top of our primitive animal selves. But that's just my daydream theories. Groups of people can indeed behave as different/new entities. It's just that the physical composition of our bodies are knwon down to the protons (and even deeper). How they all work is a different question, but there is a specific way they work. Just have to figure it out. When I say machine, I mean it as "construct" of any kind, not just electromechanical. Imo, it would be really nice if we could grow and reattach whole body parts, or grow bodies for transplant, but obviously those ideas bring a lot of negative connotations and ethical problems, so we're investing in electromechanical alternatives instead.