Five Brain Stories: Interviews with Neuroscientists
I went to see a documentary by JS Bron, Five Brain News. This was built around five interviews with materialist scientists, convinced that the brain and it alone produces consciousness. It would be enough to mathematically translate the functioning of the brain and then ingest these mathematical calculations into a robot machine to obtain a "roboid" perfectly imitating human behavior, but with superior cognitive intelligence.
Artificial Intelligence: Towards Emotional Imitation?
Research is now focused on how to endow these robots with emotional intelligence, by imitating human behavior: appearance without substance. Researchers are also wondering how these robots could learn on their own, in short, become autonomous. They are not asking the question of spiritual intelligence, because for them, it doesn't exist.
The materialist hypothesis: a reductive vision?
Their scientific hypothesis is simple: consciousness, and therefore life, what drives us, is produced solely by the brain; the brain (and life) would be a machine composed of a set of observable neurons, therefore reproducible and then disposable. The soul, in this scheme, no longer exists, because bodily death means the death of consciousness.
Not all neuroscience researchers have the same approach, but this is not mentioned in the documentary. I am thinking in particular of the research on consciousness and therefore on the soul as pursued by David Böhm or Ricardo Kastrup.
Scientific progress with worrying consequences
The documentary describes advances in artificial intelligence. It paints chilling portraits of a type of scientist who is convinced they hold the truth, sometimes forgetting that the evolutionary engine of science is doubt, not certainty. Ethical and moral questions, as well as the contributions of traditions or accounts of life after death, are ignored or quickly dismissed. Their goal: to advance scientific research, sometimes bringing comfort to certain sick guinea pigs, without concern for the overall well-being of humanity. The horror of Hiroshima (mentioned by one of the researchers) will not have served to teach us much!
A worrying cultural homogeneity among researchers
A fact to ponder: all the scientists interviewed were white; four of them were men. There was only one woman, the only one who had refused, for ethical reasons, to work for major technology firms (GAFAS: Google, Facebook, etc.), due to the potential manipulation of the brain to stimulate consumption. All were from Western cultures.
A replaced or robotized humanity?
The majority of these scientists predict, at best, the replacement of the human race by a mixed race of humans and robots, or at worst, the disappearance of the human being in favor of a more evolved robotic being, which one of them does not doubt, and above all, more controllable. They even hope so, because all admit to not really knowing how the brain really works. Of course, it will take time, but progress is moving quickly thanks to the billions of business giants.
The lack of political debate and the risk of brain control
This is worrying because our politicians are not organizing any public debate on this subject. Yet these scientists explain to us that it would be simple to take control of any brain, or even several, thus realizing the dreams of dictator politicians and the visions of science fiction producers. The worlds of business and politics could join forces to control an entire population without its knowledge. It should therefore come as no surprise that these uncontrolled advances are reviving fears and warnings from critics, easily labeled "conspiracy theorists" by the political powers in place.
The myth of the Golem revisited by modern science
So it's the story of the Golem that scientists want to revive. Are you familiar with this myth from Jewish mysticism?
"A golem (Hebrew: גולם, "embryo," "formless," or "unfinished") is an artificial being, usually humanoid, made of clay, incapable of speech and lacking free will, fashioned to assist or defend its creator. It eventually becomes uncontrollable and must be eliminated."
Scientists admit they don't know what might happen to the autonomy of these robots with supercharged human capabilities. We have seen throughout history what these capabilities have caused in terms of destruction, wars, and violence on an ever-increasing scale. It's hard to imagine how far these "roboids" could go, to what refinements of barbarism even worse than those already documented in history.
The documentary showed terrifying sequences in which these same scientists, predicting the end of humanity thanks to their research funded by GAFAs, encouraged by politicians hungry for immediate power, were perfectly aware of and indifferent to their role in this disappearance. At the same time, they mourned the death of their dog (which, rest assured, they immediately replaced like a computer), or affectionately petted their robot dogs.
Terrible images!
Essential philosophical and existential questions
And so many questions arise: Is consciousness reduced to a set of neural connections? How can we explain the differences between people if we are reproducible, controllable, manipulable, and replaceable by machines? How can we control scientific advances in a world dominated by money and political corruption?
More broadly: what have we learned from history? What remains of the teachings of ancient and sacred traditions?
So many questions whose answers belong to everyone, especially to those who want to see.
A symbolic anecdote as a conclusion
Finally, an anecdote that happened to me the same day: I had to cross a street but, with the sun in my face, I didn't know if the pedestrian signal was red or green. I decided to wait until I could see better, especially the change in color. In fact, the signal was green and a couple passed by. The signal, in the meantime, turned red. The woman who arrived at my side of the sidewalk turned around and exclaimed: "How is it possible that the light is green on one side and red on the other?"
This sums up what we are experiencing: the choice of taking the risk of moving forward or not, the fact of being on one side of the sidewalk or the other, the fact of being surprised and saying so.
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