Relationships, Religion and Robotics: The Soul and the Ethical Implications of AI

Abstract

Imagine actors in a love scene. Their goal is to make the audience believe they are in love. They perform certain actions and mimic behaviours typical of lovers, yet the audience knows every act is scripted and preconceived, intending to show the mere appearance of love. No matter how convincing, the performance is never more than that. It is a mere simulation. Persons genuinely in love, do not perform their feelings, they reveal them by their actions. The effect is not to resemble love, but to reveal it; not to act, but to enact. It is this state of being that machines necessarily lack; no matter how well they resemble human persons and their behaviour, they are never more than ‘scripted’. Human beings themselves know intimately the difference between ‘acting’ in love and ‘being’ in love and, in this thesis, the overarching position taken is that robots/AI are never more than ‘actors’ incapable of knowing the distinction. The poet Alexander Pope opined that ‘the proper study of mankind is man’, but few are willing to suppose that the introspective challenge is merely to map the contours of a devilishly complex machine. There is more to humanity than our ostensible wet circuitry, however fascinating that may otherwise be. Whether this deeper problem can ever be sufficiently penetrated, there are comparable ‘maps’ which help us incorporate seemingly irresistible notions of ‘agency’, ‘consciousness’, and ‘personhood’ into a comprehensive study of ourselves that matches the experience of being a person amongst other human beings. This thesis examines the history of such ideas and argues their potential to continue to aid in humanity’s understanding of itself. It will take the ‘soul’ to be an essential aspect of human nature and consider whether this crucial idea can be legitimately transposed into a world of new and emerging technologies that challenge the idea of human nature itself.