Soulish Machine

In the famous body-mind dualism, Gilbert Ryle remark of Descartes philosophy as promoting, "Ghost in Machine." To put in context, ghost in machine is about and related to human. How about talking about Ghost in Machine in mechanical term, or to put it precisely, robots’/AI context? Robot itself is a quite a new technology. The term, "robot" coined in 1920 by Karl Capek, a writer and playwright related to mechanics that tied to the concept of work and work in factory. The other way to describe robot in the past was moving mechanics or "automata" in Greek. Robots or artificial intelligence already appeared in the literature of Greek thousand years ago. An Ancient poet named Pindar witness a massive things and he wrote, "The animated figures stand, adoring every public street and seem to breathe in stone, or move their marble feet." This giant statue was presumably an ancient giant robots. Archytas, founder of mechanical mathematics who lived in 428-347 BCE made a mechanical dove-wooden robot. Aristotle, the great philosopher made a works entitled Mechanics to which he described several devices that still being used as the machines today. Things such as levers, rollers, gears. In Chinese Literature, Zhu Ge Liang invented mechanical or robotic oxen made of wood that could travel by itself and could carry heavy stuffs as it was recorded in one of the episode in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. 

Moreover, in Jewish Folk-lore of 16th century there was a folk-lore about Golem. An artificial man created from Clay. And the Golem was made alive by the word God or truth written in the body. This story perhaps is the earliest reference of programmable human robots or artificial intelligence. As history tells us, the development of the robot does not dominate in the States but also East and European. In 1980 the leadership gradually moved around the world. Companies like Fuji, Kuka, ASEA become dominant player in the field of robotics. In our popular culture and science-fiction, the idea of conscious robot was not a new thing and has become quite widespread in movie, books, and so on. What most interesting is not just human dreaming to create robot like them, the story of children story Pinocchio moves one step further. A wooden doll who dreamed to be awake like human! This is the reverse way of thinking that might be happening. AI/Robots dream to be perfectly embodied like human being. 

Some thinker put very high optimism on the future that one day, there will be a robot that have a brain as good as human. Perhaps, robot is better. Robot can just repair themselves over again and again. Moreover, there is a fear that one day, robots will dominate the earth, if robots become one day as good as human as expressed in many science-fiction such as in Jack Williamson novel in 1947, With Folder Hands or in 2004 Films, I Robots maybe, the doom day for us is near. We cannot also forget to mention Asimov, a writer that have created the scenario of a future risk of robot that inspire others profoundly, to wrote Asimov like story. There are several views on this scenario between human and robot. But most popular are these two. Either Robot will help human. Or robot will harm human. So, if we equate mind consciousness and soul as one unity of entity that cannot be separated and as one similar strain of activity thus, by improving the capacity of a robot to think and feel, we can produce what we called as soulish machine. 

With regards to robot, Ed Simon ask a very provocative question in his article Machine in the Ghost, "If an artificial intelligence-a computer, a robot, an android-is capable of complex thought, of reason, emotion, then in what sense can it be said to have a soul? How does traditional religion react to a constructed person, at one remove from divine origins, and how we to reconcile its role in the metaphysical order? Can we speak of salvation and damnation of a digital beings? And is there any way in which we can evangelise robot or convert computers?" And at the end he also posted an interesting thought, bringing the advance of AI, what reformation we can envision? How do we circumscribe the robot’s supplication? Although we can say, the scenario above might not be happening for it is impossible for Human to create consciousness and soul. Yet, this question can still at least, haunt us and disturb us, what "if" it is happening? Are we ready? what should we do about it? In respond to Ed Simon provocative question, albeit machine or AI can respond to the surround environment and could interacts like human the basic questions we need to be asked first is this, do they can sense the sense of meaning and personal identity?

If the answer is yes, maybe, we have another problem in the future that is to say, the right of a robot. Whether they will also have an equal right to appeal in the court as well. Apparently, traditional AI have not been able to offer a solution for this possible problem yet simply because the problem have not existed yet. The dream of soulish Machine is still long way to go. However, for some, the dream is quite near than we ever thought. Some also argue for the impossibility. In the preface of the book entitled Consciousness and Robot Sentience the author argues strongly on how actually we never will produce robots with consciousness. The act of imitation does not equal to having a soul, mind or consciousness like human have. Today, robot can only imitate. However, they do not know the reason behind why they imitate. And hence, robot is only a robot. They cannot be a conscious robot. Or to be said as a person. Contrary to that, people like Nick Bostrom and Kurzweil are quite positive on the possibility of this super intelligence being, a soulish machine to be raised in the near future. 

They key to all this is consciousness. How much we are able to unpack the mystery of it and how the mystery can help us to build soulish machine either for good or bad reason. Time will give us an answer while we are preparing for the worst scenario that might be coming, the Asimov's line (robot dominate and war against human). Nonetheless, philosophers of Mind even have tried to unpack the secret of consciousness but until today, they still cannot solve it. Neuroscientists move step ahead as they found the relation between consciousness and neural activities yet still, there are still lot of missing link. Suppose we are truly have immaterial mind like what dualist interpret, then perhaps, the idea of making robots with conscious mind is seems rather impossible. That is why, for those who believe that one day we can create a soulish machine, they reject dualism. We understand mind as immaterial only because we do not perceive the underlying neurons and their firing that probably are very tinny to be observed. The other way besides the line of consciousness is to empathize to robot and perceived them in a higher light. In other words, robot may not have a consciousness and act and feel like human. Its not essentially what they are but what we think about them. We treat them as conscious robot if they can show a certain degree of thinking and feeling or what Dennett would called as "Intentional stance". For me, the last approach seems to show the hopelessness of wanting to make robot to be conscious but they cannot. 

Apparently for today, the idea of soulish robot is not just about creating robot to help the factory or to help the advancement of human being in general especially for today, entertainment. There is also a hidden desire. We can say it as the desire of immortality. The fusion of human being and robot to create super human, a hybrid being is the thing that hopefully fulfill that dream. This is not bizarre. The cry of immortality is indisputably innate in human being. In religious understanding, this longing is part of being a human, created by God. If we trace the poet and writing of the ancient Chinese and Greek, we can also see the theme of immortality appear. The spirit of immortality can also in ancient Persian as Herodotus mentioned that the elite infantry of ten thousand of mighty Persian empire was named, "The Immortals". Many advancement of technology are focusing in the realm of health and some suggest even more that is to say, we should not use AI to cure our disease but to let Ai be merged into our body so that so, we are live longer and regenerated faster. In other words, we are become half human and half robot, a true soulish machine. Terminator comes alive. In practice the robot already helps the handicaps to live a better life. Those who lost some part of their body in war or by upbringing already enjoy the benefit.

Not just the implanted robot can be used for the benefit of handicaps, the greater need of robot to be applied to every people is demanding. This is the new agenda which historian like Yuval Noah Harari said, the homo sapiens conquers the world! To be a new human being, the augmented human that is much stronger. This vision is not new. As early as in 1966, people like Weiser already mentioned about the idea of implanting touch screen in the body. Nowadays, thinker must have been already thinking further away like for instance about the idea of uploading our consciousness to new body that is not of flesh but machine to live longer. Movie like Transcendence (2014) already show such sentiment of that kind idea of immortality in the machine. With all of these rapid advancement of technology, Robot and AI and also augmented realities of our day, there will be lot of ethical questions and theological questions that will poops out and waving like crazy. Religious and Ethical thinker must be ready to face all this in future to come. Beyond doubt, the old question what does it mean to be a person will be the primary issue to be discussed down the road!