From souls to machine mysticism: the circular irony in AI intelligence debates
keenanisalive · x · 2026-09-22
keenanisalive recalls teenage readings of AI philosophy where Eccles, Adler, and Lucas argued machines can't think because they lack souls — and notes the irony that some AI skeptics now flip the argument, attributing mystical abilities to machines that human minds lack.
He extends the analogy: if we accept scaling of arithmetic/logic units yielding emergent machine intelligence, doesn't human communities scaling by sharing ideas count as "emergent human superintelligence"?
Related event: AI Philosophy Flips from Soulless Machines to Mysterious Capability(2 posts)→
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