Technology and Human Values

Where does the "soul" train end?

Today in class, we discussed chapter 25 and we stopped on the subject of "the soul." Who has a soul? Can a soul be created? Are we morally responsible for our creations that only have souls? These are all questions that came up in class today. I personally believe that.....

1.  Souls exist
2.  Souls cannot be man-made (I.e. Cannot be constructed physically)
3.  Humans and animals have souls

While I believe this is true, I also believe that we are responsible for our creations that have a soul and those that do not have a soul. For example, our technological developments that have both or either positive and negative impacts on the world. I made emphasis on our creations that have souls and those that do not because parents are legally responsible for their "creations" (children). So if we were to create some soulless, non-living, inanimate object I am/should be equally responsible for my soulful or soul-less creation. So no, whether soulful or soul less we cannot turn a blind eye to our creations.

This conclusion brine me to my next point. We as human beings cannot create a machine/robot that can operate fully as a human would/could. Now, humans have created machines/robots that have what some would call a conscious but my question to you would be "Are we really creating a conscious if we are only programming the machine to think as we would/should. Artificial intelligence lacks the "pureness" so does this take away from its credibility? For me, this is where the soul train ends. I place the end here because we can only measure that which we can understand. What do you think? Where would you place the end?