Spiritual Speculation Space
A.I., Religion, and Sentience
December 4, 2024
Discussion Questions
These questions are just to help get the discussion going. They do not need to be discussed in order and conversation outside of the bounds of these questions is welcome.
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Have you ever intentionally used AI? Do you think most people are aware of how often the services they use employ AI?
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​How do you define sentinience? Will AI ever become sentient? Did you read the wikipedia entry on sentience, and if so, how did it differ from what you think of when you hear the word "sentience"? Did you read any of the article on consciousness?
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Will the advancement of artificial intelligence ever have any impact on mainstream religious beliefs? Will they impact how we look at our own consciousness?
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Is there a spiritual aspect to creativity? If you believe there is, does the creation of AI have a spiritual component? Are the current uses of AI in writing and visual arts enhancing or detracting from human creativity?
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Are current implementations of AI as impressive as they seem, or are their capabilities more shallow than the hype they receive? When using them, do you consider all the human knowledge and creative works they have trained on? Are AI companies guilty of stealing intellectual property?
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Are AI’s benefits worth the environmental impact of using massive amounts of electricity to run computing facilities (see the comic below)?
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Do you think we will successfully mitigate the dangers of AI? Do you give consideration to regulation of AI when engaging the politicians who represent you?
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The following question was written by ChatGPT using the prompt below:
Discussion Background Materials
Material listed here is intended to enhance discussion. The inclusion of these materials is not an endorsement of their authors or the organizations publishing them. We encourage you to fact check any claims made in these materials.
