Wall-E and Me

This week the discussion in our Interfaith group centered on the idea of the mind and whether someone like the cute little robots in Wall-E could ever experience true love or whether Data from Star Trek TNG would ever become human, even if they put in that emotion chip. What separates man from machine? Could my computer ever develop a free will with the right programing and hardware? I hope not, I have enough trouble with it as it is!

This is a key question in the whole debate over naturalistic evolution, what is the mind and how does it work? Some of the key figures in the debate from an evolutionary perspective are Daniel Dennett from Tufts and John Searle from U.C. Berkeley. Dennett and Searle are naturalists/physicalists, in other words, they believe that the totality of existence is contained within the physical universe. Now, they each have different approaches to attempt to explain mind; however, in each case mind is ultimately an emanation from the brain and not an entity unto itself. This position, however, leads to many difficulties that neither has successfully overcome. I won't be able to go through all of the problems, nor would you patiently read through the whole post if I did, but here are a few.

First, there is the problem of how to understand mental states in the first place. Some in this camp would reduce mental states down to the physical. In other words, the mind is just a emanation or extension of the brain. This runs into all kinds of difficulties as far as how to understand identity, intentionality, and ultimately, morality. For, if a persons actions are merely determined by their biology, then no one can ultimately be held accountable for his or her actions. Yet, we see more and more of this playing out in our society today.

Second, I mentioned intentionality in the previous point; however, it is a problem of its own. When my brain tells me to lift my thumb or type on my computer, we aren't really challenged by that thought. However, when you begin to add steps and branches and sub steps to arrive at an intended destination, this is where it runs into problems. For example, if my intention was to go to work so that I could complete a proposal, I would have to get up, get ready for work, drive my car through a series of streets, roads and highways to get to work, go into my office, turn on my computer, log in, start my word processing program, find the file, and search for the place where I left off. This series of steps does not seem unusual to us, yet this poses massive problems for a physicalist since it involves so many sub intentions to arrive at the goal of writing my proposal. There is a real challenge trying to figure out how a person can have intentions that are far removed from immediate actions, something that we just take for granted.

Third, concepts like truth are ultimately meaningless if all we are can be reduced down to physical properties. There is no reason that we could be confident that we know truth if we are simply acting according to causal events directed by our biology. Why would we be confident that our biology led us to truth rather than just to that which will allow us to survive another few minutes? If we are finite creature stuck within a finite existence, then we should have no confidence at all in this regard.

These issues are overcome in a theistic worldview as mind is separate but related to the physical body. God is the eternal mind who has created us in his image (Imago Dei) and given us characteristics that allow us to be in relationship with him. He has instilled us with personality, will and characteristics related to these. This is why when I tell my wife or my kids that I love them it cannot be reduced down to some physical properties of my brain or body, but is something real and meaningful that I am expressing. When I choose to do something right or wrong, I am making a real choice with real consequences. Also, we serve a God who came to live among us by taking on human flesh. Jesus told Pilate, "you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32) Jesus understood that truth could be known. He also demonstrated that we are more than more than just physical bodies by rising from the dead. However, even intuitively, we understand that we are more than just physical beings. Our love is real love. Our emotions are real emotions. Our thoughts cannot be reduced to physical mere physical properties. We are more than just the sum of our parts.

Psalm 139

¹O LORD, you have searched me and known me! ²You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
³You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
⁴Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
⁵You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.

¹³For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you,when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶Your eyes saw my unformed substance;in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

¹⁷How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.