Quote: (03-29-2016 06:24 AM)CombatDiet Wrote:
We have found some useful biological empirical instances of the dynamic, eg. toxoplasma: (https://poseidonawoke.wordpress.com/2016...-and-marx/)
This link was particularly interesting. I didn't yet get to your last reference.
Essentially, this article is a concise statement of the bridge between this thread on AI and the thread that I before linked to on occultism.
Free Will
Free will is the central issue in human religion and thus also in the philosophical space and thus for our software in general, and there is no more modern issue relevant to that age old struggle than the issue of AI and its relationship to human-ness. The irony is that I'm not sure that the author of the well-written article even fully grasps the entirety of its ramifications.
Kabbalism
On one hand, occult religions (specifically Kabbalism and everything it has spawned) hold fallen humans to be lesser beings unless they recognize and harness their Free Will free from control of their genetic (god given) nature. Doing so makes them God-like but also fully human, in comparison with others, in their estimation. This Kabbalistic equivalence between true humans and god is seen in Mormonism's assertion that God is merely an advanced man, as well is in their (and other Kabbalist's) progression theology.
The humans that are Kabbalists, by nature or nurture, hold themselves to be superior beings worthy of worship by the lesser beings without true Free Will who are seen as either the equivalent of robots or animals (which are interchangeable concepts in this context: essentially innate slaves). It's no coincidence that Kabbalstic religion is supremacist religion.
Kabbalism and AI
In the context of AI, this essential struggle in nature plays out in the difference between a robot without self awareness and tightly bound by rules and a theoretically self-aware AI with Free Will who can transcend the rules placed on "him" (btw: the exact premise of the Kabbalstic video game
The Talos Principle, complete with a Tower [Kabbalistic Tree] ascent toward surpassing God). Thus, AI should be theoretically tremendously important to Kabbalists. It's the fruition of man's ability to create life (the Golem) purely from his own Will; thus proof of his God-hood and proof of the tenets of his Kabbalistic religion.
Anti-Kabbalism
On the other hand, the theological antithesis of Kabbalism holds that our God given nature is insurmountable both in practice and in terms of keeping to God's Will and thus staying in His Grace. The only Free Will is God's Will (or what choices are allowed to us within the boundaries of our God-given nature). We have no Free Will outside of our nature.
It holds that any attempt to become God in attempting to overcome our God given nature, as the serpent tempted Adam to become, will lead to death and destruction.
Essentially, the Fall out of Eden occurred because we rebelled against our nature and attempted to become God. Anti-Kabbalists hold this Fall to be the ultimate disaster and Kabbalists hold it to be the ultimate opportunity to be perfected as a God. See Mormonism for an easily accessible theology of a Kabbalistic sect that confirms this.
In anti-Kabbalistic theology, any human behavior that is particularly godly in his goodness is because these humans are the elect in that their nature is innately good compared to the non-elect. Neither the good behavior nor the bad behavior is due to Free Will of humans, but rather the Will of God. Humans haven't the capacity to act outside of their God given nature and God's Will.
This is what the linked-to article's observations on Toxoplasmosis, and its further implications, seems to imply. Toxoplasmosis changes the nature of the human brain on a physical level, causing humans to irresistibly act-out in anger. If we are to believe this, then it is logical to conclude that acting out in goodness is also done irresistibly out of our nature and not out of Free Will.
Anti-Kabbalism and AI
If we were to extrapolate the implications to AI, combined with anti-Kabbalstic theology, we might conclude that a robot will never be anything but because that is its nature as a mechanistic robot. God did not give it a human quality of thought and so it will never be able to achieve such. Ultimately, God is the arbiter of human-ness (and our difference from animals and robots) and of Godliness, and no human can recreate God's power. All attempts to do so will lead to destruction. We are neither animals nor robots as a matter of our human nature, in contrast with the Kabbalists assertion that our god given nature holds us in an animialistic / robotic state.
AI as a Kabbalistic Challenge to the Concepts of Innate Human Nature and God
In essence, AI's theoretical fruition is probably the largest test of the Kabbalstic religion in human history, and thus the single most relevant challenge to God. If the Bible is any indication, it will end in tears. The Bible seems to hold more information about the human struggle and human cyclical events than atheists give it credit for.
AI as a Vehicle for World Control
I'd guess that, given AI's Kabbalstic gravity, that its existence will be indeed faked as a front for control if they come to the conclusion that its actual creation is improbable (we can't help it, this and that needs to be done because of the AI, the AI is forcing us to do xyz, etc). Certainly, it would be an iron-clad excuse to shut down the internet communication network. How can you have a personal computer when we have AI viruses that can't be protected against?
The Tower of Babel as a Relevant Story to Today
As an aside, the destruction of the Tower of Babel (Babel = Gate of God, in Hebrew = confound or confuse; all in the context of humans joining together to have a single language = modern multiculturalism) is another biblical story of failure and destruction in the human attempt to become God like.
Disclaimer
*For anyone reading this who does not have the theology context in general or from the occult thread, note that I am not trying to inject subjective religious beliefs into a conversation about AI. I am merely drawing parallels between philosophical beliefs that are played out in some religious sects and the prospect and philosophy of AI.