Do atheists believe in the existence of friendship?

[Mister Agenda]

Humans aren't robots by definition.

robot
1. (especially in science fiction) a machine resembling a human being and able to replicate certain human movements and functions automatically.

Our brain functions being explainable electrochemically doesn't make us robots; robots are machines that emulate humans in some way. It also doesn't follow that we are 'programmed'. We are able to think about our actions and act accordingly, the opposite of 'being programmed'. When we don't arrive at decisions by thourght, we can fairly be described as 'acting according to our programming'.

"What is the meaning of being programmed?
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English to be programmed: if a person or an animal is programmed socially or biologically to do something, they do it without thinking.... All birds of this species are programmed to build their nests in the same way."

Whenever you think to reach a decision, you are actually executing some complex conditional branch instructions (as if... else... etc.) preprogrammed in your body.

That is a bare assertion and can be dismissed as such.

The definitions given in dictionaries are certainly made by humans too. And humans, in general, are not supposed (by design) to be aware completely they are just an evolved version of animals. The only difference is that their preprogrammed instructions have also evolved with time and become, to a great extent, much more complex than of their far past animal's ancestors.

Humans have barely any instincts and our behavior is almost entirely governed by our personal experience, education, and thought processes.

Doesn't an AI robot seem to think when you ask it a question or have a conversation with it? 
The only difference is that we know it is robot because we can also know the company which produced it.
But, in case of humans, since the Company of the Will behind their creation cannot be seen, a human can easily object whenever someone tries to show him how close he is to a man-made AI robot.

Even AI at this point learns from experience and we don't entirely know exactly how it does what it does. To an extent, it's a black box. AI is no longer entirely under our control. This is unavoidable, it can't do what it does without access to inputs which we can't totally filter.

The only real free-will that, a human may have, is his ability to oppose, or not, his preprogrammed instructions embedded in his living flesh (like allowing some attackers to kill him while he had all the necessary the means to destroy them). After all, let us recall that it would be really silly that a robot is also allowed ny its maker(s) to ignore its inner instructions. This is why this exact real free-will makes a human be different from all sorts of robots.

I'm not the one arguing that humans are just like robots.

[Peebothuhlu]

Really?

They are digging down on the whole 'Robots' thing?

When I brought up how false an analogy it was I got ignored. Yay Mister Agenda?

[A. Secular Human]

Heard from the back seat:

<YAWN> "Are we there yet?"

[Paleophyte]

Heard from the back seat:

<YAWN>   "Are we there yet?"

The intersection of Imbecility Way and Futility Lane? We arrived about 180 posts back.

[arewethereyet]

Heard from the back seat:

<YAWN>   "Are we there yet?"

You rang?

[Peebothuhlu]

Heard from the back seat:

<YAWN>   "Are we there yet?"

Don't make the Mods turn this thread around.

[deleted]

Meh, skimming through the thread because I am board so I'll bite.

We are all evolved biomechanical automatons who exist because of pure luck. Friendship exists because of networking between units. Ideally this is a symbiotic relationship instead of a parasitic one, but many times the latter is true, though that still can be symbiotic in a way as one party just feeds into the others narcissism and possibly gets entertainment out of it (at least that's why I did it, and also she was hot and I was dumb.)

Proving friendship exists is easy from a personal perspective, as I have my friends and sometimes we hang out, get food, watch movies, and complain about idiot theists who ask dumb questions. There is proof of friendship by the clear actions taken from the friends. Friendships can end if there is a fight, one/both parties die, or it can dissolve over time through attrition and one day you just stop taking to eachother.

I only skimmed the thread though so I may have missed the point.

[no one]

I only exist as a result of a botched lab experiment. Friends only exist for spare parts.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I only exist as a result of a botched lab experiment. Friends only exist for spare parts.

Young Dr. Frankenstein used to make friends easily.

[The Grand Nudger]

I only skimmed the thread though so I may have missed the point.

Oh..no..you didn't miss any point.