A THEORY OF INTELLIGENCE Part Two (Identity)

by dhw, Thursday, July 12, 2018, 13:21 (2325 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

TONY: I said I do not believe in an immortal soul. Yes, when we die, we die. However, I do not believe that we are entirely mechanistic in nature. This line of thought falls outside, and is separate from my recent hypothesis, though not in disagreement. I personally think the life energy, that undefinable thing that spans the gap between material and immaterial comes from God, and returns to God. When that spark is gone, our thoughts stop and our biomechanical engine begins to deteriorate. I don't know if that spark is what gives rise to consciousness, or whatever this is. I don't even know how to frame the question, honestly, because it is reaching into an area that is unknown and, most likely, unknowable.

DAVID: I would equate soul and your 'life energy'.

And I have offered a theory that the machine (perhaps made by God) creates the ‘life energy’, and the ‘life energy’ might possibly take on a reality of its own, just as the image can go on existing independently of its source, and just as a collective intelligence can transcend the individual intelligences that give rise to it.

I do like your conclusion, Tony, though I would extend it to most of the questions we ask. We keep reaching into areas that are “unknown and, most likely, unknowable”. These for me include the existence of God, the source of consciousness, the origin of life and the mechanisms that have enabled life to develop from the simplest forms to the most complex. That is also why we will never agree on any single answer but why we can, I hope, help one another to gain insights into (or objections to) POSSIBLE answers.