AI souls

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · 06 Dec 2004, 10:54 · from 2004-December.txt.gz

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From: danldo at gmail.com (Dan'l Danehy-Oakes)
Date: Mon Dec  6 10:54:23 2004
Subject: (urth) AI souls
In-Reply-To: <C96D7EF9-46FE-11D9-9452-0003939CE29C at earthlink.net>
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	<C96D7EF9-46FE-11D9-9452-0003939CE29C at earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <1f76173704120610497310d201 at mail.gmail.com>

H'mmmm ... Interesting.  

Another example of machines MAYBE becoming ensouled 
would be the Talusses (Tali?) of the Long Sun Whorl.

It seems clear to me that Wolfe is suggesting that something
like a soul happens at a certain level of complexity and 
especially of _communication_. The word he uses is "speech,"
but I suspect that the word he is avoiding - and why should 
Wolfe not avoid key words and facts every bit as much as his 
own characters? - is "word," or rather "Word," _logos_.

God speaks World into existence, and all the creatures in
it; God then ensouls Man by "breathing" into his nostrils
- but the Hebrew word translated as "breath" can as easily
be translated "spirit" or "wind." And we speak with our 
breath. 

Speech is breath is spirit.

--Dan'l

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