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You are then assuming a purely materialist mind - that there is no "spiritual" component or some part of it that can't be understood by physical and/or chemical

by mmmbeer 12y ago

You are then assuming a purely materialist mind - that there is no "spiritual" component or some part of it that can't be understood by physical and/or chemical science (i.e. that there is no 'soul'). I personally believe in a soul (and true free-will) so I don't think we'll ever have AI.

melling 12y ago
Does your "spiritual component" figure out metaphors? Because that's the problem we're trying to solve.
unclebunkers 12y ago
There is only a purely material mind. In every god, deamon, spirit, angel, ghost, miracle or pantheon that has ever been put forth for scrutiny, a mundane non spiritualistic world presented itself as the cause. A scientist need not focus on fairy tales to explain the workings of nature.
tomp 12y ago
I'm curious, how do you define "true free-will"? Most people define it as "the ability to freely decide what I want", but that just means "the ability for my brain to figure out what the best cause of action is, based on my previous experiences", which is just another way of saying "determinism" (even if it includes some non-material planes, e.g. "soul").
rantanplan 12y ago
So basically, you believe in magic. By the way, that 'soul' thingy, doesn't reside in our brains? Or do you believe in the 21 grams 'theory'? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21_Grams#Title http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21_Grams#Title I really don't want to pick on you, I am just really interested if people who believe that stuff are consistent in their beliefs, or they just mix and match.
justinpombrio 12y ago
What's a soul? (I'm actually curious what you think.) Does my roommate have a soul? How can I tell? Do I have a soul? How can I tell?
- arethuza 12y ago
  Also - does a cat have soul, what about a chimpanzee?
im3w1l 12y ago
I share your belief in a soul, that isn't adequately explained by neither contemporary physics nor chemistry. I am more positive of the future though. Just because we can't explain it right now, doesn't mean we wont ever be able to explain it. Also, even if we aren't able to explain it, we may well succeed in AI anyway. By that I mean that we could create a computer that can perform the same mental feats as a human, without understanding if it is a p-zombie or not.

by mmmbeer 12y ago

melling 12y ago

Does your "spiritual component" figure out metaphors? Because that's the problem we're trying to solve.

unclebunkers 12y ago

There is only a purely material mind. In every god, deamon, spirit, angel, ghost, miracle or pantheon that has ever been put forth for scrutiny, a mundane non spiritualistic world presented itself as the cause. A scientist need not focus on fairy tales to explain the workings of nature.

tomp 12y ago

I'm curious, how do you define "true free-will"? Most people define it as "the ability to freely decide what I want", but that just means "the ability for my brain to figure out what the best cause of action is, based on my previous experiences", which is just another way of saying "determinism" (even if it includes some non-material planes, e.g. "soul").

rantanplan 12y ago

So basically, you believe in magic. By the way, that 'soul' thingy, doesn't reside in our brains? Or do you believe in the 21 grams 'theory'? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21_Grams#Title http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21_Grams#Title I really don't want to pick on you, I am just really interested if people who believe that stuff are consistent in their beliefs, or they just mix and match.

justinpombrio 12y ago

What's a soul? (I'm actually curious what you think.) Does my roommate have a soul? How can I tell? Do I have a soul? How can I tell?

arethuza 12y ago
Also - does a cat have soul, what about a chimpanzee?

im3w1l 12y ago

I share your belief in a soul, that isn't adequately explained by neither contemporary physics nor chemistry. I am more positive of the future though. Just because we can't explain it right now, doesn't mean we wont ever be able to explain it. Also, even if we aren't able to explain it, we may well succeed in AI anyway. By that I mean that we could create a computer that can perform the same mental feats as a human, without understanding if it is a p-zombie or not.