Very interesting. I see a few possible lines of argument that sects who believe this (must have soul to be intelligent) could take. The more crude argument woul

Very interesting. I see a few possible lines of argument that sects who believe this (must have soul to be intelligent) could take. The more crude argument would be a variation of "no true scotsman:" It's not really intelligent, it's just doing a very good job of reproducing the behavior of an intellingent being." There are a lot of issues with that argument, so a better approach might be, "When it becomes intelligent, God endows it with a distinct, unique, and individual soul." Another possible approach would be, "The original and the copy share the same immortal soul," but that would be incompatible with some concepts of the afterlife. There's also a version heavy on FUD: "When it becomes intelligent, it is possessed by an evil soul."