Artificial intelligence: ¿will we ever create human machines?

It is difficult to answer properly this question due to the extraordinary number of unknowns and the ambitious time range it includes, but some clues will be given to try to answer the question in a reasonable way.

Starting from several existing definitions of Artificial Intelligence (AI), its actual status will be discussed, as well as the different dilemmas set up through the history: strong AI, soft AI, hard AI, distributed AI.

After that, the original question will be divided into the following ones:

-can a machine have a mind?
-can a machine have emotions?
-can a machine be creative?
-can a machine be benevolent or hostile?

-can a machine be self aware?
-can a machine have a soul?
-can a machine know God?

Specific problems set up by the possible answers to these questions will be discussed.

Fernando de Arriaga

Brain and Soul: new ways of looking at an old problem

The main ideas that I would like to transmit in my talk are as follows:

1) The neuroscience is a biological discipline, which was aimed in its foundation as an interdisciplinary common research. That is, in my opinion, the main reason for showing a great ability of growing in knowledge integration as we have seen and experienced in the last forty years.

2) However, one of the most remarkable hints in this integrative development could be summarized in the following question: why the humanities studies have recently been of great interest for the neuroscience itself?

3) To answer this crucial interdisciplinary enquiry, I will try to give you an idea about how difficult has been for this neurobiological discipline to fully develop an explanation of the human being as a whole from the unique perspective of the functioning of the nervous system.

4) In a final approach and in contrast with the above-mentioned in n. 3, I will attempt to illustrate how coherent and consistent are the recent neurobiological discoveries (specially related to the field of the systems neurobiology) and the anthropological view of the aristotelian-thomistic philosophical tradition.

José Manuel Giménez-Amaya