The Robot Priest

[argentus]

Mindar seems as cognizant as an audio book.   I guess I'm not bothered by this at all, any more than I am bothered by Siri having a female voice.   Siri doesn't understand or think, it responds to various vocal cues.    I don't think Mindar is AI.   This is just a computer with a face.   It doesn't have a gender, nor deserve pronouns other than "it".  It can't be insulted.   

I think it would be amazing if/when actual AI that is self-aware emerges.   Having read and even written a few cautionary tales, I would hope that it/she/he would be well isolated from the world.   It seems almost inevitable though.   Humans seem to have done such a shitty job of managing the planet's resources.   Surely there is something better along the forward track of evolution.   Perhaps a hybrid will do the job.   Maybe that's what the grays are, who knows??  

*how to go off-topic without saying you're going off-topic*

[Maxmars]

At the risk of committing two fouls here....

One: I hate to contribute to "topic drift" but I rationalize that since we are talking about this "AI priest" it is relevant;

Two:  I don't usually do this, but I recently responded in another thread which I thought might be equally appropriate here:
 

It's as if some burn so deeply with the desire to assume "identity is real" with these AI algorithms, but they can't fathom that "AI" has no driving sensibilities that we could recognize as 'sympathetic.'  There is no "mind" there.  Language synthesis is not "intelligence."

To confuse algorithms with 'thought' is problematic.

[Byrd]

At the risk of committing two fouls here....

One: I hate to contribute to "topic drift" but I rationalize that since we are talking about this "AI priest" it is relevant;

Two:  I don't usually do this, but I recently responded in another thread which I thought might be equally appropriate here:
 

Actually, your quote of yourself is really spot on.  They don't think, and they can't actually do what a human does; make connections that aren't logical... and yet that's what humans do.  Feynman did a lot of math and experiments based on "why does spaghetti break into 3 pieces when you snap it" (spoiler alert; they've changed the formulation and the wheat type... so some of the brands do and some don't nowadays.)

[Nugget]

I, for one, would be more inclined to discuss faith with an impartial robot. No using their 'superior' knowledge to tell me how to vote, or wave their had and absolve me of all quilt for my sins.
No constantly changing rules by these 'anointed' ones, such as gays are doomed to hell to let's welcome them with open arns; our collection plates are suffering. No worry about what kids are learning in Sunday school. 

I'd take a robot over a Jim Baker, Ted Haggard or the likes. That's just me, though.