Artificial Intelligence and Angelology :: Technology Science Computers Essays

Artificial Intelligence and AngelologyABSTRACT Recently, as I have become more computer-literate, I have noticed some interesting parallels in the midst of computer mechanisms and Aquinas metaphysics of angelic faculties. The present essay expands on some of the analogies which Aquinas himself, though no proponent of AI theory, might have be interesting.One of the philosophy newsgroups on the Internet is entitled comp.ai.philosophy. This group features constant variations on questions such as how close can artificial intelligence (particularly computers) guess to human consciousness? is free will reducible to neurological mechanisms? and so forth. From my unscientific sampling, I would estimate that the clientele of this newsgroup is about evenly split between those who tend towards a reductive materialism, and those who maintain that consciousness or some element in human consciousness is not reducible to neural structures or functions. So the classical Hobbes vs. Berkeley debate continues on into the twenty-first millennium.One of the problems facing those who theorize about the independence and irreducibility of consciousness is the fact that it is difficult to conceptualize the loading of consciousness, as distinct from the sensations, feelings, etc. that are often associated with consciousness. Here we are definitely getting into abstract metaphysics. Medieval philosophers such as Aquinas, Duns Scotus and Suarez faced up to this challenge with a little help from Christian revelation, by speculating about the characteristics and functions of angels or separate substances, who would presumably exemplify consciousness in its pure state, without both distracting admixtures. In this paper, I would like to take a look in particular at Aquinas theory of separate substances. With this theory, we bypass the old question of the reducibility or irreducibility of consciousness to its material conditions, and we also find, in my opinion, some interesting analogies to contemporary computer technology. It would be too much to hope that these analogies, even if substantial, would instigate a revival of interest in Angelology among technophiles. But those interested in the metaphysics of the mind-body problem may find them suggestiveMicroprocessors and Angelic Self-possession The microprocessors of todays computers are integrated circuits which control the CPU on a single chip. The latest developments, with variable clock speeds now often exceeding 200 MHz, include Intells Pentium chip, the IBM/Apple/Motorola PowerPC chip, as wellhead as chips from Cyrix and AMD. The CPU chip is the heart of the computer only memory and input-output devices have to be added. A small fan might be added on top of the fastest chips to cool them down, but in the chip itself there are no moving parts, no complex gaps between the movement organism imparted and that which imparts the movement.