1、1,AI & Atheism,AI: Mind without Mysticism Atheism: Life, the Universe, and Everything without Mysticism,2,Conciliatory Preface,Religious beliefs are a very significant and personal aspect of ones world view. Every individual must be free to make up their own mind about religion without undue coercio
2、n from any educational or governmental authority. I condemn and decry our own governors approval and promotion of constitutionally illegal prayer at mandatory school events. As long as one does not contaminate ones scientific hypotheses with un-falsifiable supernatural explanations, one can be a dev
3、out theist and an effective, productive scientist.,3,Science and Religion Disjoint?,Science and religion have been claimed to be compatible since they address different issues (S. Gould, The Rocks of Ages) Science is about “The ages of rocks” Predictive theories of the material world. Religion is ab
4、out “The Rock of Ages” Spirituality and morality. Tell that to Copernicus, Galileo, Darwin, and other scientists that have been persecuted, despised, defamed, repressed, censored, criticized and/or ignored because their science conflicted with prevailing religious beliefs.,4,My Own Incompatible Expe
5、rience,I was raised as a devout Catholic with 8 years of parochial, religious education. I became an atheist because, as I learned more and more about science, I found scientific explanations for physical, psychological, and ethical/moral phenomena much more believable and compelling. My beliefs abo
6、ut materialism and atheism are a fairly important component of why I believe (strong) AI must be possible.,5,Science (and AI) vs. Religion,One of the original motivations for religion was to provide explanations of phenomenon that are now the province of scientific explanations. Many psychological p
7、henomena that are traditionally explained with spiritual, non-physical causes are now the province of computational (AI) explanations.,6,The History of Religion and Science,Phenomenon,Explanation,Thunder and Lightening,Origin of the Universe,Origin of Species,Origin of Humans,Origin of Life,Intellig
8、ence,Consciousness,Free Will,God,God,God,God,God,God,God,God,Atmospheric Electrical Discharge,Big Bang,Evolution by Natural Selection,Evolution by Natural Selection,Molecular Evolution,Computation/AI,Computation/AI,Computation/AI,7,Explaining Away,When evidence for one explanation increases, evidenc
9、e for other competing explanations decreases. A form of common-sense reasoning that is formalized in AI as abductive and Bayesian inference. Bayesian formalization demonstrates that “explaining away” is a mathematically sound and correct form of inference.,8,A Bayes-Net View of Science and Religion,
10、God,Origin of Universe,Origin of Life,Origin of Humans,Intelligence,Consciousness,Big Bang,AI,Evolution,9,Bayesian Priors,Belief in any proposition depends on its prior probability. A priori, belief in the existence of entities should have very low priors (Occams razor); otherwise, what prevents bel
11、ief in a proliferation of entities? I dont believe in God for the same reason I dont believe in other entities that have no real explanatory power. Fairies Unicorns Santa Claus Easter bunny etc.,10,Laplace, Napoleon, and God,Upon the completion of his magnum opus Exposition du systme du monde, Lapla
12、ce is said to have had the following conversation with Napoleon: Napoleon: “You have written this huge book on the system of the world without once mentioning the author of the universe.” Laplace: “Sire, I had no need of that hypothesis.”,11,Dualism vs. Materialism,Dualism: The belief that mind, con
13、sciousness, cognition, and intelligence are separate and distinct from the material world and cannot be explained as purely physical processes. Rene Descartes was a dualist who believed that the mind made contact with the physical body through the pineal gland at the back of the brain. Materialism:
14、The belief that mind, consciousness, cognition, and intelligence are physical processes that can be explained through normal scientific investigation of the material world.,12,AI Materialism Atheism,Strong AI seems to imply materialism. If purely physical, deterministic machines can be intelligent,
15、then mind is a physical phenomenon. Materialism seems to imply atheism. If the human mind is a purely physical phenomenon (Minskys “meat machine”), then there is no immaterial soul or spiritual free-will. Atheism seems to imply materialism. If there is no spiritual world, then mind must be a physica
16、l phenomenon. Materialism seems to imply strong AI. If mind is a physical process and computers can emulate any physical process (strong Church-Turing thesis), then AI must be possible.,13,Are Religion and Strong AI Compatible?,If all behavior is the result of physical causes in the material world,
17、then there is no metaphysical free will. Without dualism, how does human behavior and morality relate to a non-material God? If a truly artificially intelligent agent was created, then what would be its religious/spiritual/moral standing in relation to God? Would we be “playing God” and thereby offe
18、nd religious sensibilities by creating such a being?,14,Scientific Explanations of Religion,Religion is a ubiquitous phenomenon in human culture that itself requires explanation. Religion may arise from “spiritual” experiences that have a neurobiological basis. V.S. Ramachandran, Phantoms in the Bra
19、in, Chap. 9 “God and the Limbic System” Religion may arise from various cognitive biases of human inference and belief. P. Boyer, Religion Explained. Religion may have evolved biologically and culturally to reinforce adaptive social behavior.,15,Conclusions,AI provides scientific explanations for ph
20、enomena that were previously part of the province of religion. Belief in AI decreases belief in religion due to “explaining away,” a theoretically justified form of inference. AI Materialism Atheism It is difficult to reconcile belief in strong AI with traditional religious ideas of free-will and moral responsibility.,
