Liberal Forum

Vegas » 27 Jun 2022, 9:50 am » wrote: ↑

27 Jun 2022, 9:50 am

As usual, your post are well thought out. Very nice. 

1) But evidence is in the perspective of our lens. Are ants (or any insects) aware that there is more land than the one they occupy? Are they aware of different species in China? They are only aware of the evidence from the lens of being an ant. Likewise, we are only aware of any species from the human lens. Can we prove that we are all not in some larger container possessed by a higher species? Ants think the world is contained in what is around them. 
 

I like your Ant analysis.  In fact, I have often wondered (and sometimes argued) whether any ant has ever look up at the night sky and seen stars, not necessarily in the same way that Humans do. I am aware of the very limited ability of Humans to even perceive of the world and universe around us. We can only sense a tiny fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum; most of it goes completely unnoticed by us.  We cannot even see most gasses, or 99.999% of what is beneath the surface of our planet.  In a sense we live in one-dimensional space on top of a sphere, not much different than the ant. 

However, we have aptly developed instruments which greatly expand our perception and understanding of that which we cannot naturally observe. That is a rather noteworthy accomplishment of humankind.  We not only have the natural curiosity to seek out evidence concerning our nature and the nature of the universe, we seem to be on a mission to obtain such information with our enhanced and expanded capabilities.  Yet, even with our enhanced capabilities, we have not yet found any evidence of life beyond our planet, not to mention highly intelligent life, moreover the kind of intelligent life capable of "making us".

2) This is what leads to my thought experiment. Our DNA programs each of us. It dictates our behavior and thoughts.

You are overstating this.  DNA does not dictate behavior or thought.  DNA does only two things - replicate and make proteins.  Really, that is all DNA does. Further, protein synthesis only tangentially affects thought.

We don't dictate our DNA, it was programmed in us.

I would have to agree on this.

Therefore, how much free will do we really have

A lot, actually, Like I said, DNA can only do two things - manufacture proteins and replicate. That is a far cry from "programing" as we know it. I challenge you to link up DNA's synthesis of proteins with logical thought and reasoning.

3) I see no reason why a creator could not be created by others.

I'm not saying it can't.  But, at some iteration, there must be a species that was not created by another species (taking God out of the equation).  So, before I buy into any thought experiment that presupposes we were created by another intelligent species, you would have to first explain to me how the original creators were created. Otherwise, you're just logically kicking the can down the road.

We are creating AI bots, that in of itself proves, it to be possible.

Well, it proves something is possible.  It does not prove that we are capable of making a machine that thinks the same way humans do.