serp777
Well-Known Member
I'm talking about the soul from a classical theist definition, not some wishy washy abstract thing that goes beyond any kind of logic and reasoning. Say IBM builds a computer system that simulates every neuron in someone's brain.This brain, through speakers and a terminal, can communicate just like a regular human would and it would think like a human would. It might even believe in God and pray, etc.
Would this disprove a soul? I think it would because you've just demonstrated that everything about that entity can, fundamentally, be explained by deterministic processes resulting from nand and nor gates + memory. So in other words its entirely physical and consciousness emerges from the interaction between those gates and memory.
I mean if you believe in a soul, then what happens when you try to simulate every neuron of someone's brain? Does it just never work? Are you saying its impossible to do that? Or do you create a philosopical zombie that just seems like it has a soul? I'd say that if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then its probably a duck. I think the theists who believe in souls are going to have some major problems to deal with when this technology advances in the next 100 years and we try get a fully simulated human consciousness working.
Would this disprove a soul? I think it would because you've just demonstrated that everything about that entity can, fundamentally, be explained by deterministic processes resulting from nand and nor gates + memory. So in other words its entirely physical and consciousness emerges from the interaction between those gates and memory.
I mean if you believe in a soul, then what happens when you try to simulate every neuron of someone's brain? Does it just never work? Are you saying its impossible to do that? Or do you create a philosopical zombie that just seems like it has a soul? I'd say that if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then its probably a duck. I think the theists who believe in souls are going to have some major problems to deal with when this technology advances in the next 100 years and we try get a fully simulated human consciousness working.