Frankenstein and the creation of artificial life

[susannah]

In Mary Shelley's ground-breaking story, Victor Frankenstein creates what turns out to be a monster, raising it to life, without realising what he was unleashing

Comments

[susannah]

I agree, at the moment, we are a way away. But don't underestimate the exponential pace of technological advances. Compare the primitive processing power of huge early computers with what you've got on your mobile phone. And in terms of supercomputers, it is hard to imagine that in 25 years, in 50 years, or in 200 years time, they won't make our computing power today seem like something out of the stone age

[policraticus]

In Frankenstein, the real monster, the moral monster, was the Doctor, not the Creature.

Any artificial intelligence we create will have all our weakness, ignorance and fallibility.

[napoleonofnerds]

Typically souls in any philosophical tradition (as opposed to purely dogmatic ones, like Shinto or some traditional animist religious) are features of biological creatures only, but a soul is simply a part of one's nature. To be human is to have a rational animal soul, to be a fox is to have a non-rational animal (or sensitive) soul, to be a tree is to have a vegetable (or nutritive) soul, and these are inseparable and metaphysically necessary features of the living thing. The most fundamental definition of the soul is "that, by virtue of which, things have life." The thing to read on this question is Aristotle's De Anima, and then St. Thomas' commentary on it, both available online

[alyoshas_world]

I think Halloween is in the air :)

[redstar826]

personally, I'm waiting for the post that links vampires to Christianity

[alasthai]

Let me see: on the one side, there is this chap who raises the dead, who is rises from the dead, who encourages his followers to drink his blood; on the other, there are these places with ready supplies of crosses, holy water, and convenient wooden furniture which can be broken up into stakes. It could go either way. Also, there is Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter the movie.

:P

[chaz_lehmann]

It seems to me that any "artificial life" we created would be like Tolkien's dwarves were before Ilúvatar had mercy on Aulë and gave them souls.