Have you considered how AI is challenging what it means to think? AI is just the current version of programming that seems to show that we may be nothing more than a body controlled by neural programs. There is an alternative. Start with spirituality. Let me explain.
I had an idea over 20 years ago. I read Schrodinger’s Cat by John Gribbin. According to Gribbin, the question physicists have been ducking since Newton is - Is the universe determined.
To be determined means there are no choices. Newton proposed three laws of motion. 1) An object remains at rest or in motion is a straight line unless acted upon by an outside force. 2) Force equals mass times acceleration. 3) For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
If it were possible to know the position and velocity of all of all particles of matter, it would be possible to predict the position and velocity in the future. I took that a step further and applied physics to biology.
If evolutionary theory is correct, life is the result of changes in particles of matter. If those changes could be predicted, then we could predict the evolution of life.
Then I went even further, if our mind is the result of brain activity, then our thoughts would be predictable. There is no free will.
Now we’re getting somewhere.
Some will want to point out that quantum mechanics shows that Newtonian mechanics is incomplete and the universe is not determined. However, that argument does not help get us out of the predicament that we have no choices in life. It goes back to Newton’s first law. Where does the force come from that causes a change in your brain, resulting in a change in thought?
If the force comes from the environment, then the environment is controlling your brain. Or the programming of your brain is reacting to environmental forces. There is no “you” to be in control.
In order for you to have free will, you must somehow generate force to control your brain. What are you? How do you generate that force?
When Alexa and Safari became available, I pointed to them and argued that perhaps they function like our brains. You ask a question, and they come up with an answer. If your brain is just programming, then it is one program asking another. There is no you to intervene.
AI is taking things up another notch. It seems more and more human-like. Are we just bio-programming?
Imagine the societal implications. Without free will, murders and rapists have no choice. Rich are rich just because. Poor are poor just because. Whatever can be done about either will either be done or not. We will not choose an outcome.
Does that mean we can all get along once we have that understanding? No! It means nothing. Our conflicts are both pointless and inevitable.
There is a way out. Instead of starting with energy. Start with spirit or mind. I prefer spirit which I define as something that controls the body.
Thoughts are produced by my brain. My mind is those thoughts. I have learned that I can either allow my thoughts to flow, I can stop the flow, or I can change the thoughts. I can do that because I am a spirit. If I fail to do that, I might be a spirit that is having a robot experience.
Back to the original question. AI can do amazing things. Perhaps we are just advanced AI. Perhaps someday we will arrive at our pre-determined destination. Or perhaps all is random.
Or perhaps more and more of us will make the spiritual decision to take control of our brains. We will use AI to make our lives better. We can find meaning in our lives. We can choose love. We can choose peace. I remain hopeful.