Philosophy Explorer wrote:Beauty wrote:This thread was about, 'Can a computer be God?'
For a computer to be God, as in what we understand God to be, I don't think a computer could be God ever. Reason why? We make computers and a computer does not have its own thinking, feeling, understanding, knowledge, memory, database of information, whatever is there is coded in by another, and the basis for extensions is also coded in there. So the computer only performs upon command. The command being ours, the computer cannot be God, for God would be the one sitting highest in command, the one behind the making of the computer would be God, but only in respect to the computer, not otherwise, otherwise, the one sitting highest in command of the whole world would be God.
You're talking about the present. How about the future as computers (i.e. AI) progress through exponentiation to develop their thinking, understanding, memory, etc.?
PhilX
Well, we do happen to wonder if artificial intelligence will not one day take over the whole world, as in us creating a computer/robot, which will do calculations regarding this and that exponentially, which we could never do ourselves, and could take over us having surpassed our power. But since computers cannot have their own independent thought, feeling, understanding, I don't think it would be possible for us to make a computer that can sit God or Devil over us in the sense of controlling us and having power over us in the right or wrong manner respectively, for it would always be a machine that we could any day run over using our intelligence. To say that a computer - artificial intelligence, developing in the computer could be more than our intelligence, let's first define intelligence what it is and how and why it is there, for then we will have the right answer. Intelligence is there in the good and bad and I think equally. When we see the bad taking over the good, it is because the good are not bad and will not do any badness, no matter how intelligent they may be, but the bad have no scruples about being bad and will do this or that. A computer cannot have feeling, so it can never be good or bad, it will only be a performing machine always. A machine cannot take over the world in the short run, and any long run chances, we would know about seeing its performance in the short run, so we will null & void the computer. Any accidents, yes, we could undergo a disaster. Also, a computer could take over our happiness in the sense that today life is not as it used to be yesterday, for yesterday it used to be more feeling, more personal, more outgoing, more physical and so happy, more one to one and more one to more on a personal basis as in socializing and stuff, the reason being that computers are not feeling, personal, physical, socializing(hanging out, partying, having tea together, socializing etc.), and so we have begun to show those characteristics too becoming more and more computer minded.
So actually we are more in fear of becoming artificial, not that computers could ever become real. Now back to the definition of intelligence. If this world is due to quarks initially and themselves appearing(like an idea coming to us itself), and their various combinations and one thing leading to another has given way to life and world coming into being the way it is today, then artificial intelligence could take over the world. But hey! We make computers. So the quarks would be someone's made and also the natural laws that followed, and if everything went out of hand then we would not understand some things and would not have control and power over some things, and it does seem to be that actually. But first how did that someone get made? So then, there is some law in the higher Heavens which might go like this - appearance and disappearance of the spirit is there and it is itself. Spirit in us is - thinking, feeling, understanding, knowledge, memory, database of information, consciousness etc. What might have gone out of hand when spirits made this or that is - vegetable food good and appropriate is not there for all life, animals cannot grow food, in the soil there's animal life although we need to till the soil, tend to it, to grow food, in just about everything there seems to be sin or at least some wrong, ocean life does not have much vegetable produce, our body comes from the environment and goes to the environment and we have vegetable food from the same environment which does not seem right etc. So, in the higher Heavens, it does seem as if something went horribly wrong which spirits don't have control over, but life if always there in Heaven is still the good life. Our food coming from the environment and also us going to the environment(although it could be no other way for body coming from food, food is environment, going back to environment makes sense), the work to be done everyday, good vegetable food is not there, some animal life is always hurt/harmed when we clean home, do gardening, tend to the fields, have some fun, it could be argued who would really desire a life like this in the first place, perhaps no one. So then our creator would bring this world to a close because of life not making sense, but the creator doesn't. So that means something went wrong in the higher Heavens, and life and the world cannot be shut down. Not artificial intelligence taken control and gone haywire, but higher Heavens made a gigantic mistake, perhaps that spirit takes body accordingly for a lifetime and keeps doing that. Spirits coming cannot be stopped, and taking bodyform accordingly cannot be stopped. If the creator is artificial intelligence (theory or development of computers and so forth) itself, then how would something happen itself. We do understand the word itself, idea coming itself, we walking, cooking, learning, writing, erasing doing are not taught every single thing or line or motion but it is itself all the various motions etc., and we can say that that only happens because this world happened itself, the natural laws happened themselves(itself) and so on and we would be right. So the creators name would be itself, and that would come up itself and we cannot argue with that. So then if that is the case, then the creator being all powerful, the creator itself would take care of any problem arising in the world, reason being it would be a logical happening, solution being there always, because problems arise when there were none, meaning when all was good, so creator would bring that good back. What I mean to say is that problem shows a solution is there beforehand, otherwise how and why and from where did the problem arise? It couldn't. And so problem would be resolved, there being a solution always. "Life has a way of taking care of itself." No worries. Creator would be nature and so we have natural laws in nature, and so we have a nature in everything and everyone. Nature even sits biggest, all powerful(so should you desire your spirit gone, it would go away), so nature is our Lord/Lady and it is all natural. Jesus said, "The natural is first." Jesus also said, "Have you found the beginning then, that you are looking for the end? You see, the end will be where the beginning is." Nature is creator, nature nurtures, nature would bring our spirit to a close should we so desire. Creator would honour our request if it is from the heart and we are deserving, then we will have wish-fulfillment. All said and done, the way natural law goes and it is the cosmic law - your action, your consequence, your fate. So think whatever you want, do whatever you want, but consequence is according to action which is our fate in life. We are all free spirits in the world - Gods. "Know ye not that ye are all Gods, and the spirit of God dwelleth in you?" So then live your life as you please, we are all free, always have been. Pain and suffering is of our own making, joy and happiness is of our own making, and the way life is in the world we understand, live it with understanding.