Oh I find God is one of the many creature comforts our psyche clings to to make life more palatable.
Take for example free will. There are many people who embrace cause and consequence but still think humans are special. That we are somehow psychologically equipped in a way that everything else isn't to make choices that are entirely our own. They neglect to note that our brains, our minds, our everything is the result of internal organs with physical internal processes doing things to make us come to the decision we come to. Most of the factors which go into those decisions are subconscious. We actually make the decision seconds before we realize we have and the conscious mind is left weaving a narrative where it is in control.
Thats the difference between us and other animals when it comes to the free will debate. Narration. We are complicated animals but animals none the less. If a more complicated animal than us were to emerge our behavior would be as mysterious to them as the behavior of goats. Our consciousness is the interaction of objects. A physical effect. A verb outside of our control. Once this is understood the debates among whether AI would "truly be alive" disappear. The question ceases to have meaning. An animal becomes an organic machine that has emerged from a deeply flawed process of survival of the fittest; evolution.
The most disturbing thing I find about this train of thought is that psychopaths view the world in similar terms. They view everyone else as objects separate from themselves. Nothing more. In a way; they're right. The distinction they fail to draw is that they are also an object hence their grandiose narcissism. In a world of wooden puppets they view themselves as an exception to the rule, perhaps even as the puppeteer.
They are grossly mistaken.
Take for example free will. There are many people who embrace cause and consequence but still think humans are special. That we are somehow psychologically equipped in a way that everything else isn't to make choices that are entirely our own. They neglect to note that our brains, our minds, our everything is the result of internal organs with physical internal processes doing things to make us come to the decision we come to. Most of the factors which go into those decisions are subconscious. We actually make the decision seconds before we realize we have and the conscious mind is left weaving a narrative where it is in control.
Thats the difference between us and other animals when it comes to the free will debate. Narration. We are complicated animals but animals none the less. If a more complicated animal than us were to emerge our behavior would be as mysterious to them as the behavior of goats. Our consciousness is the interaction of objects. A physical effect. A verb outside of our control. Once this is understood the debates among whether AI would "truly be alive" disappear. The question ceases to have meaning. An animal becomes an organic machine that has emerged from a deeply flawed process of survival of the fittest; evolution.
The most disturbing thing I find about this train of thought is that psychopaths view the world in similar terms. They view everyone else as objects separate from themselves. Nothing more. In a way; they're right. The distinction they fail to draw is that they are also an object hence their grandiose narcissism. In a world of wooden puppets they view themselves as an exception to the rule, perhaps even as the puppeteer.
They are grossly mistaken.
"That is not dead which can eternal lie and with strange aeons even death may die."
- Abdul Alhazred.
- Abdul Alhazred.
