John Connor's Reality

John Connor’s Reality

The factious world that John Conner runs a rebellion against the artificial computerized army of robots (that inhabit the Earth) is not only a fantasized chaotic reality, however, a possible end to the human species. The study of scientist Nils Nilsson’s “Artificial Intelligence” disagrees with the study of psychologist John R. Searle’s “minds, brains, and programs” that suggests a mechanical organism cannot be mental. With consideration to both scholars and materialism, we can determine if these mechanical organisms have their own self.

A long time belief of what a self is, relied on French philosopher Descartes’s theory of dualism. Dualism suggests that each individual has a soul that is immortal and takes many physical forms before it can last alone in the metaphysical world. In a world that consists of souls collecting physical forms to obtain knowledge, our self is merely a reflection of the metaphysical soul. Although dualism sounds beautiful and poetic, most modern day scientists and philosophers disagree.

Nilsson’s argument is based on the idea that we humans are biologically mechanical organisms. We react a certain way due to cause and effect, our environment, and our experiences. Our brain is a very complicated mechanical tool that operates in correspondence of rules and processes. When we look at computerized life, “the assumptions of strong AI [(artificial intelligence)], the mind is to the brain as the program is to the hardware, and thus we can understand the mind without doing neurophysiology” (Searle 8). In comparison, the operating system of a computer is very similar to the operating system of the human brain. Although we cannot fully understand how the brain works, we can observe the similarities of the two entities and attempt to make a strong AI. If we are to believe that one’s self is defined as the way one individual is viewed on their actions, experiences, and relation to one’s environment, then it is not...