Creation Story

If one were to compare the beginning of artificial life and the beginning of creation, they would appear to be similar but still unique in their own way. According to the bible, the higher power known as God, created the world we live in in six days and on the seventh he rested. He also, “created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them,” (Genesis 27) and he blessed them with gracious gifts such as water to fish from and land to plough from. And after all that he created, he extended his gracious hand and said to them ‘be fruitful and multiply’, and to fill the earth with offspring and to have domain over all that was created.

Just like God, a person to some extent, made man, man made technology; and it was created in a similar fashion to how the earth was made. The people that God put on the Earth gained great knowledge over time in order develop machines that could do tasks that humans did not want to do, were difficult, or were too dangerous. Some examples of the simplest to the most complex machines are garden tools to computers.

With all the advancements of technology, different people came up with the idea to build self-sustaining robots, basically human robots that could function just as humans would. The big question is whether or not this is ethically okay and if artificial life causes enough sentience in the world to cause mankind to put an end to it.

In our society, there have been hundreds of movies made about the development of human-like robots and how one day, they could take over the world. For most people, this is a scary thought, knowing that there are man made creations that are just like we are. Just as one saw in the film Battlestar Galactica, one may fear that these machines may gain so much knowledge that they may have the capability to think on their own and want to thrive as a species and wipe out humans.

In addition, one can also compare The Allegory of the Cave to the creation of artificial life and if one should explore the unknown possibilities within advances of technology. Written by Plato, this excerpt suggests that if people were suppressed for a long period of time and then were given the chance to become free, will one go? He also uses the metaphor of light to describe how one would see ‘reality’ for the first time and says, “At first when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains,” (Plato). With this metaphor, one can suggest that the man will become scared of the unfamiliar and would not proceed forward.

Just like our society, one may be scared or nervous to move forward into unknown territory. Although they make a valid point, one may think it is important to look at all of the achievement human kind has made by taking risks and walking into unfamiliar territory. One example would be when individuals thought the world was flat. It wasn’t until the invention of a boat that one could look into the horizon with the boat sailing and see that the Earth was round and that they didn’t just drop off the Earth. Or how about citizens of England who took the risk of moving to The New World in order to make their lives better. Without having the courage to take risks, the world we live in would be very different.