Am I? AI? What do you think?

[00:00:01] Am I AI? What do you think? [00:00:05] By Bart Ehrman Probably I have been thinking a lot lately about the relationship of AI to human consciousness. [00:00:13] I'm obviously not an expert, but hey, at least I can think. [00:00:18] Can AI think? [00:00:20] That, of course, is a major question constantly being raised, and one on which almost everyone seems to have an opinion. In contrast to, say, religion, is AI really that different from I? Am I a different mode of existence? [00:00:36] The people I talk with usually argue the real thinking cannot happen without consciousness, and machines cannot be conscious the way humans are. Okay, fair enough. I agree, it doesn't seem like it. It seems like I myself am conscious, have free will, can make personal and intellectual decisions on grounds other than data themselves, often bad decisions, can emote, can sense the world, and so on. I say it seems like because, well, what's it even mean that I can do and experience these things in the mechanistic world that I personally believe in? [00:01:10] How am I, at the most fundamental level, different from anything else? [00:01:16] Lots of people would argue that we are different, and that this difference itself is precisely the virtually incontrovertible reason for thinking we have a non physical, non material soul. [00:01:27] But why should I think that there is such a thing? [00:01:31] Before digging deeper, let me be clear that I'm not interested in converting anyone to my point of view or deconverting them from theirs. [00:01:40] But this is an issue that seems worth talking about, especially in the context of the blog, where everyone involved in any way whatsoever, whether firm believers, questioners, doubters, agnostics, atheists, or folk of some other religious tradition, has some kind of connection to the Christian religion, which is predicated in one way or another on the notion that humans have souls. [00:02:03] But just speaking for myself, why should I think that on a fundamental level I'm different from a machine? Sure feels that way. But am I? [00:02:12] All of last week I was on a meditation retreat. [00:02:16] I clearly decided to go of my own free will, exercising my consciousness, following my desires, whereas my computer went with me. Not of its own free will, exercising conscious choice, although it did seem to assert a will of its own when it stopped working for a while. [00:02:31] My way of doing a retreat is not to join a group, but just the opposite. To rent a place on my own, to be in solitude in a nice rural or village location, to spend the days reading, thinking, hiking and meditating with no other distractions or interactions. It's fantastic, and I can't recommend it enough. [00:02:50] Among other things, in my meditating and thinking I decided to reflect not just on who I am, but Also on what I am. [00:02:58] I pretty well know what I am materially, though I have no real mind for deep level anatomy or physiology or biology or chemistry or the other requisite disciplines. [00:03:10] But I know enough basics. Maybe a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. I know enough basics to make me wonder, what am I really? [00:03:17] And what does it mean to be conscious? [00:03:19] I've read a good bit about this from philosophers and neuroscientists and psychologists, at least the ones writing at a layperson's level. But I always welcome bibliographical suggestions. [00:03:30] So here's my thinking and my questioning. Right now, my body is a physical entity. My consciousness is located ultimately, with some supporting roles elsewhere in my brain, which has something like 85 or more billion neurons that are connected with each other in trillions of ways. [00:03:49] My brain is the executive officer for the functioning of the body. It's also how I think and remember and analyze and plan and decide and prefer, along with other more or less purely cognitive functions. It's what drives my feelings and my emotions and my moods. It's where my personality emerges and on and on. It's where my free will and my consciousness reside. [00:04:11] But how does that work exactly? Those 85 or more billion neurons are cells made up of molecules. The molecules are made up of atoms, which comprise subatomic particles. But to keep it simple for now, it appears to be a brute reality. It's molecules and the physical entities they consist of. All the way down. [00:04:30] So is the chair I'm sitting on, and the table and the computer I'm typing on molecules. [00:04:37] The molecules are in different configurations. I have fingernails. My computer does not. But what I have and what it has are all molecules. [00:04:46] My brain of molecules is molecules, and so far as I can tell, it's nothing else. [00:04:50] Those who believe in a soul believe there is something else. But what is it? Of what does it consist of? [00:04:56] Non material stuff. But what? [00:04:59] Why think so? Because it just makes sense. A lot of things that are true don't make sense. Think interactions of subatomic particles, different theories to explain entanglement, each endorsed by internationally known experts, but that are at odds. Often we can't explain things that are true just because we don't know enough yet. [00:05:19] And maybe there are things we will never know, but we will never know if there are things that we will never know. Which in itself is a nice paradox. [00:05:27] The word atom, by the way, is Greek, popularized especially by Epicurean philosophers who were complete materialists. The word literally means something that cannot be cut into smaller parts the atom was obviously for them, the smallest unit that could possibly be, and all reality was made up of different configurations of atoms. [00:05:50] The idea that we could split one would have been seen as nonsense. But sometimes nonsense becomes common sense once we know more. [00:05:58] So I'm not sure that it is a strong argument that soul or consciousness is. Because it just kind of makes sense and we can't figure out any other way to explain ourselves. [00:06:07] But we know that we have souls because of our experiences, right? We have feelings, and rocks don't have feelings, we assume. [00:06:15] Moreover, since we sense or we perceive that we have a soul, we almost certainly do, right? [00:06:20] I'm not sure. I perceive that the sun that is setting just now is about twice as large as it was at noon today. As it heads toward the horizon, does that mean it has grown? It sure seems like it. [00:06:33] Many years ago, when I started thinking about these things, I became highly impressed with the developments in neurology sparked by the case of Phineas Gage. And if you don't know about Phineas Gage, then look him up. [00:06:46] I realize that my personality, my thoughts and my beliefs, my intuitions, my sense of right and wrong, my memories, my ability to plan and analyze and think and emote and relate to others, all of them are not just kind of connected to my brain cells. They are entirely connected to my brain cells. If my brain cells get seriously altered or destroyed, my person changes, meaning my personality changes, meaning who I am changes. It's all in the neurons made up of molecules. [00:07:16] Machines are made up of molecules. AI is driven by molecules. If it's all molecules, why can't they become conscious as we are? [00:07:24] I know it's counterintuitive for most people, but if it's molecules all the way down, they can be configured in virtually infinite ways. And people, of course, always respond that machines can't do that. But what they surely mean is, can't do that yet. [00:07:40] Just think what people said machines could not do 100 years ago or 10 years ago or even two years ago now. But it's different now because there are some things they just can't do, right? That's what they said 110 and two years ago. [00:07:56] Possibly that will change. Possibly it will change soon. [00:08:00] Which makes me wonder, how long are we made for this world?