Poll: Do Robots Have Souls?

[Active Schizophrenic]

Megaman has a soul and he always will. because megaman is too awesome to not have one.

 

[emion]

what really O.- Im pretty sure they don't cuz their a manmade object. made out of metal an stuff :3

 

[Gudrests]

All i have to say is....Bender had a soul didnt he? and if you answer no then i tell you neither do you...and if you say yes...well you dont so shut up

srsly tho, yes if we have one a robot would have one

 

[Worgen]

what the hell is a soul?

 

[interspark]

I was reading Negima earlier (fellow fans will get the reference)

Chachamaru?

OT: robots are programmed to react in a specific way (A.I.) so I don't think that that counts as a soul.

yes, but chachamaru used her programming and adapted it to make her own decisions, in a similar way to how we adapt the teachings from our childhoods

 

[interspark]

what really O.- Im pretty sure they don't cuz their a manmade object. made out of metal an stuff :3

yes, and we're made out of blood and stuff, that shouldn't define whether or not we have a soul though

 

[John the Gamer]

I don't know. Do humans have a soul? (most of us don't I guess) What IS a soul. But yes, I think so (as soon as they become self-aware)

 

[manythings]

Well, no. But neither do humans so what's the problem?

This.

There's no such thing as a soul, so no.

Prove it.

Nice try.

Souls are an unfalsifiable concept. Once something is invisible, made of absolutely nothing, completely ethereal, and has a tentative meaning, there's no way to prove it wrong. You can only use common sense.

I think we know enough now about the human body to realize that what we thought was a "soul" was really just a personality, which is not a spirit inside a person, but just the unique way their brain reacts to stimuli.

I wouldn't ask you to disprove ghosts. You know why? Because they're made up. If you claimed to prove that ghosts don't exist, I could easily change the definition of "ghost" to prove you wrong.

The only way to disprove an imaginary concept is to realize that it's a fictional idea.

Your opinion on the concept of soul and its feasability isn't what can be classified as evidence. There are any number of things that could be called "imaginary" that people persist to believe and disbelieve, the myth of dark matter is a very good example of a scientific belief.

Flight was imaginary until it was real. The combustion engine, bacteria, even black swans were considered inventions of chronic liars. Your argument is why I hate both ends of any theological or existential debate, you all think what you choose to believe is proved by your belief.

Common sense is the root of superstition not a means of bypassing it.

 

[loc978]

Nothing to date has convinced me of the existence or non-existence of "souls" in anything, so... *shrug*

 

[Raregolddragon]

To answer the Geths question yes they do they have on just like I do. Witch has not been proven or dis-proven.

So the real question is do humans have souls.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

I guess it depends what you define as a soul.

I don't think a soul is anything spiritual, I consider it to be a level of intelligence that was considered divine before we really understood the nature of intelligence.

In my opinion anything that can do, think and feel things independently, and can gather knowledge and draw opinions for itself, has a soul.

Of course this is all relative, seeming as AI haven't reached this point yet. But if you disagree, watch iRobot, then tell me that Alfred Lanning's "Ghosts in the Machine" speech makes no sense, and that Sonny has no soul.

 

[Aptspire]

only once they acquire a ghost in the machine, otherwise, no

 

[Dumori]

I was reading Negima earlier (fellow fans will get the reference) and it made me wonder something. Here's the scenario,

A scientific team creates a robot, the very latest tech, it has independant thought, can have detailed conversations with humans, sharing and exchanging new knowledge and even ethical views on subjects, it can make its own decisions on what is right and wrong and even decides how to spend its own time, and, and this is the real important factor, it even has the capacity to fall in love.

The question is, does this robot have a soul? Personally I would say yes, I don't think our origins should determine our right to be human beings, rather, our personalities and emotions should be. Doctor Who once said, "there's more to being human than flesh and blood"

While I doubt it has a soul I as doubt the very existence of the soul being a materialist. While I could write alot on reactions to inputs not requiring the same possesses and where differing possesses matter in determining human like capabilities and qualities and how much so. I can also say that love is no clincher in "souls" a huge chunk of love in one sense is hormonal/chemical reactions to encourage reproduction. However platonic loves are another matter. My love of logic and writing is no in the same field of love as what I feel for my girlfriend there is overlap but I'd be forced to say there both platonic and none platonic love there.

I feel the question would be better posed if the idea of soul was replaced with something more "real" such as rights.

Since I am a Philosophy major, and I deeply get my panties in a bundle over topics like this, I will first need to know: How do you define a soul?

Without knowing what it is, we can't apply it on either robots, or humans.

I'm in the exact same boat while I'm currently not studying philosophy I have done until recently.

I'm not going to vote as I feel I can't give a valid answer. I don't think anything exits beyond the physical world no soul in another "magical" dimension but there is no denying things can exist above the purely physical parts such as computer stored data and written text. With out going deeply into the different camps of monism and dualism; and all that entrails. I'm guessing you are presenting an idea like that of blockhead. If not the exact same question begin raised by this thought experiment then a very similar one.
Link for reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockhead_(computer_system)

Edit: the block head persented there is one diffrent from what I mean to reffer to. However it still has a part to play in this debate. For the sake of making my point I'm in the proces of digging though my text books to find the right thought experiment and I'm quite sure Ned Block came up with it. There is also the possibility that wiki is wrong slash being rather broad on the issue.

Some digging later and I've found it. Imagen that every neuron in the brain was modeled by a human. They'd each have a glossy of what to do when, a means of communicating with who ever they'd need to and a way of receiving instructions. Now if this fake brain system was then linked to a fake robot body by some means perfectly recreating a human but each part also being a human and thus fully aware/concious would the "Blockhead" robot body also be?

I think this is as close to the question the OP is asking.


TLR what is a soul OP? Do you simply mean concsiness or identity as a person?

 

[emion]

what really O.- Im pretty sure they don't cuz their a manmade object. made out of metal an stuff :3

yes, and we're made out of blood and stuff, that shouldn't define whether or not we have a soul though

eh... you asked about my opinion, you got it. so bugger off -.-

 

[GodofCider]

Well, no. But neither do humans so what's the problem?

My thoughts exactly.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

The machine spirit is more than a soul. So no. It has something greater. God is more like a machine than a person. Logical to the point where, to emotional beings like us, it seems irrational, even seemingly cold sometimes. There is no good and evil. There simply is. It is balance. It is logic. It surpasses morals. The god in the machine.

In all seriousness, i think if there is a god hes more like a machine than a human. So yeah. I think if a soul did exist (i dunno, does anyone REALLY) a machine would have more of one than us.

 

[CoL0sS]

No such place as Silicon heaven? Then where do all the calculators go?
In all seriousness, do you? Do I? Does it really matter?

 

[Scarim Coral]

I would say yes. This way we can at least treat it as a human being then to treat it as a machine (I don't want the Matrix to happen because of the past mistake).

 

[Harlemura]

I think we do despite the lack of proof, but I don't think machines do.
A contradictory statement, I know, but it just doesn't seem like a toaster would have any kind of feeling towards the bread it's cooking or the people it's cooking it for.