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A review by bkoser
The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang
4.0
Chiang is so good at turning interesting questions into compelling stories. In this story he also gets you to care about AI pet characters, no small accomplishment. The questions are new and revolve around the relationship between AI and humanity and the line separating the two.
The question on which all the others hinge (and it's *not* a new one) is: what is consciousness? Coincidentally, I was just recommended an article from The Guardian, Why can’t the world’s greatest minds solve the mystery of consciousness?, which overviews its philosophical history.
As a Christian, I don't think we could create a soul (in the theological sense) for a software program, but don't see why we couldn't create consciousness. When that happens, the questions Chiang poses stop being hypothetical and start needing answers.
The question on which all the others hinge (and it's *not* a new one) is: what is consciousness? Coincidentally, I was just recommended an article from The Guardian, Why can’t the world’s greatest minds solve the mystery of consciousness?, which overviews its philosophical history.
As a Christian, I don't think we could create a soul (in the theological sense) for a software program, but don't see why we couldn't create consciousness. When that happens, the questions Chiang poses stop being hypothetical and start needing answers.