Well this is interesting.
- Thread starter Laufen
- Start date
The problem when dealing with the idea of an artificial intelligence is that you often have people operating out of two different constructs when it comes to the make up of a life. Put simply, most people fall into one of two camps, one believing that the human is made of two parts "body, and spirit" and the other believing that the body is made up of three parts "body, spirit, and soul." Depending on where you were in that mix would affect how you felt about it but as I said, often times the butting heads on this idea are operating out of separate camps and that will always cause an issue. From where I sit, though, AI is completely plausible with the theology of Christianity as I understand it. Sure, it would create moral decisions and ramifications, but it would/should have zero soteriological impact.
I hadn't thought of it that way...i suppose I don't give the people in question enough credit to think they would be wrestling with those disparate paradigms. I personally ascribe to the body and consciousness/spirit/soul ( the three terms being one in the same...a trinity if you will) paradigm.
You're probably right in not giving them credit...unfortunately most people are cattle when it comes to the harder, more intellectual parts of a faith paradigm. If you operate out of dichotomous view of man, as you say you do, than this type of conversation can be more difficult as the "soul" and the "spirit" are part of the same thing. Operating as I do, out of a trichotomous paradigm, it's less of an issue as the "soul" and "spirit" are distinct and one can easily have one and not the other...animals for instance.
The difficulty with both views though, as with most of the big ones, both sides seem to have support in Scripture. Neither is "right" nor is either indefensible. So yeah, it's a tough conversation for some.
