Humans are machines. Granted we are organic and very complex machines, but everything from our thought process to our emotions is mechanic-chemical or electric stimuli. This sounds cold and seems to demean these process's; however, the fact that we understand something does not make it any less important or amazing. Still, humans dislike or even fear being reminded of this (one of the reasons seeing the internal mechanisms of the human body is so disturbing to us). The main reason for this fear is that it is hard to figure out where the soul fits into all of this. So what if we made an intelligent machine capable of thinking of thinking for itself-would it have a soul? It is just metal and wires just like we are just proteins and neuro fibers. Does having a soul make you able to think or does being able to think constitute having a soul? On top of that what rights would machines that think on a human level have to be granted and how would their differences from ourselves complicate that process?

well, pretty simply.... machines can't think.... they can only respond.

They would never actually be capable of genuine human behavior. It would be a replicated response that made sense but wasn't a product of thinking but simply a reaction to stimuli. Sure, this is similar to what humans do, however, humans have the ability to change the response if they want to. A machine is held down by it's rules of response and therefore wouldn't be able to "think" or choose what to do....

What defines thinking? Is the thought process more relevant coming from organic tissue than it is coming from any other substance? As soon as a computer gains the ability to do something other than what we tell it to do it is no longer acting in response to programmed stimuli and has gained some autonomy. If a computer can make its own decisions and act accordingly is it not sentient merely because it does not have a pulse? Food for thought...

Ohh i sense an argument coming on here

I have to agree with geeogree on this one. Machines cant think only respond. But A.I is not just something that thinks for itself its something that can learn just as a human does, through thought. More importantly A.I is artifical... and it always will. No matter of technology can make it more... real. It will always be fake, talke fake, thoughts are fake, emotions are fake. A.I despite its purpose is to be a fake human is just not possible.

Jojo: part of my point is that it's not possible.... you can't program something to be "human".... it's just not possible.

you can make something seem human, but when it comes down to it, the program just won't be human....

No computer could ever emulate your brain. Its too random, too deep, too complex. You can say what its made of, but can you say how it works? Or why it works in those ways?

geeo: it might not be possible now, but none of us -- you included -- know what will be possible or impossible in the future. Some breakthrough in science might occur, and someone might discover a way to create a program that can create its own stimuli for it to respond to, much in the way we humans do.

Anyway, I think what Jojo's point is, he's asking about a hypothetical situation in which it IS possible to create a thinking machine. In which case, would the machine have a 'soul'? What defines a 'soul', anyway?

This is an interesting debate that I've heard before, but I've found more often than not that when it is argued, it usually includes lots of opinions fueled by religious views. Since the last thing I want is to be involved in a religious debate, I shall now quietly bow out of this conversation.

well, IF it were possible.... then I think we would have to determine just how intelligent these machines are.

honestly, the idea of an A.I. becoming intelligent like humans pretty much leads to a Matrix or Terminator sort of end in my mind.

this isn't inevitable, but I don't imagine humankind being able to get to any different outcome....

Well I imagine they could create an A.I. that was self-aware. And did things for its own good. I can see what Geeogree is saying with his "It may act like a human, but it will never be human" But On the othe side of the coin, I think it is possible to have a computer

Uhhh, yeah, no matter how deep A.I.'s get there wouldn't be any moral or ethical implications... I never read the first Post throurouly. Simply, they have no soul. No learning curve. If is a learning curve, then it was just programmed into it. It is an interesting thought though.

geeogree, are you trying to say that if we do develop something such as this it will lead to our own inevitable destruction...?

AI would need to be developed to be able to learn... wait a minute.. they can...
Im gona be learning AI in university. AI also has its prividlages aswell. Look at i-robot (when everything is good)

IceWave: well.... I just imagine it being like one of your recent sci-fi movie deals...

we create super advanced A.I.

the A.I. gets smart and decides that the world without humans would be better or humans get scared of how smart the A.I. is and tries to take it out

war ensues.... everyone dies

humans are imperfect... I just see A.I. eventually destroying us

I see what you are saying. But do you really believ that could happen?

I don't see why it couldn't....

hopefully the A.I. we create will be smart enough to work with humans.... hopefully it will be able to debate and exchange ideas with us in such a manner that it is able to see and understand different possible realities involving a co-relationship

I think that the moies are called Science-Fiction for a reason, they are fake. It is possible but i dont believe that it could. But that doesnt mean we will live in a perfect world with them. There will be some friction between them and us... but we'll never know until it happens

well, it's science-fiction because it's fiction based around science.

Sure, it may not be the only possibility out there.... but if someone can think it up it's possible.

But based on your rule "but if someone can think it up it's possible"
than there is no physical limit to what can happen on this world?
Is that what you are trying to say?

well, yes and no.... I mean "anything is possible" isn't technically true....

but, if the human mind can come up with it, it seems like we have this knack for being able to make it come to pass....

and sometimes even when we don't mean to we make things happen.

but I'm definitely not saying that absolutely anything is possible

Well thats ok then, because i could of named a few things that even if you did believe anthing was possible you would know that what i would of said wouldnt be.. but never mind now...

"and sometimes even when we don't mean to we make things happen."
Not thats its realted to AI, i just though i would mention Bubble Wrap was made like that.. unintentinally.

tons of things were made unintentionally.... it's actually kind of scary how many inventions and medicines and the like were accidentally discovered....