Introduction
The unpredictable impact of human identity
The capability of humans crosses borders as each day passes by. In the Stone Age era, humans were primitive beings unable to keep themselves warm or safeguard themselves from harm. However, humanity defied odds in many instances to emerge as limitless in everything they partake. In addition, they are the only organisms with the free will to think and invent things. The emergence of singularity is gradually becoming a reality. Most of the wealthiest and intelligent individuals in the Silicon Valley have accepted and adopted the concept of singularity. Just a couple of years or decides to come, everything will incorporate the idea of artificial intelligence. This paper will look into the challenge of personal identity and the unpredictable impact that humanity will have in case artificial intelligence takes over the world in the future. It will associate artificial intelligence with the continuous search for personal identity.
The predicament of personal identity
Personal identity is like a color or unique shape with which an individual stands out from the rest of the crowd. Human can create anything. For instance, improve health and come up with technology that enables them to explore the universe, planet, and stars. However, no human has defeated death (Vance p1). This is a phenomenon that defines humanity, gives them a time limit after which, they are no more. If human creates a device capable of generating immortality, they will be ‘gods' in their own right. Their image would change. Change in perception leads to change in character and beliefs of an individual. Humans have achieved many things except the replication of life on earth. Just like any other thing, failures define an entity more than the success. Thus, to be human means that one will meet death at one point in their lives.
Personal identity hinges on two factors. In addition, these factors outline the challenges associated with personal identity (James and Stuart, p 53). The first factor is time. Time dictates actions, behavior, and achievements of an individual. Talk about coming into existence through birth, marriage, accomplishment and so on and so forth, they all occur within a time capsule. The second factor is the ability to find a personal identity and stick to it as time elapses. For instance, a one-year-old child grows up to be an adult, and people do not question the possibility of acquiring a different identity on the journey to adulthood. Instead, people will assume an individual is the same from birth to adulthood (James and Stuart, p 62).
The bundle and soul philosophy tries to simplify the issues around personal identity. The makeup of an individual goes into shaping the full status of an individual. The actual body, the ability to think and process information through the brain gives an individual identity. The mental strength that takes place within the physical body sets the pace for the body to create identity and foster relationship with other people. Personal beliefs, thoughts, ideas about life, experiences, and skills all originate in the brain of a person. Both long-term and short-term memories contain specific lessons, actions, and response to situations. Thus, the mind maps out particular thoughts to experiences and channels them into actions. Consequently, the steps form a personal identity. After the mind and body, nothing more comes close to defining own character more than the two. The two entities give an individual personal status in regards to time. Other factors such as personality and causes of a personality all meltdown to the brain and past thoughts. (James and Stuart, p 53).
Artificial intelligence
The idea of artificial intelligence came about by the belief that a computer has the potential to develop rational or logical mental capabilities just like humans. Computers are the best form of mimic. Presently, computers can store, process and retrieve information when any data passes through them. Just like humans, the network has physical parts such as the screen or monitor. The only difference lies in intelligence. Computer reasoning relies on programming language input by the builder of the computer. Secondly, they do not have emotions and beliefs or intentions. Thus, there is no linkage between physical actions and thoughts within the network. The contrast is excellent, but there exists a potential of bridging the gap. The tie between the mind and body will give birth to artificial intelligence on earth. The intention is the overall initiator of emotions, actions, and imprints personal identity through one's memories (James and Stuart, p 67).
To form an opinion on artificial intelligence one needs to investigate determinism. The common sense of humans has components in align with determinism. Each human came into the world by birth and born of two parents. If the situations, factored by time and location differed slightly, personal identity of people would alter. For instance, a student can ‘decide' to be a doctor later in life even though his or her father is already a doctor. This directly implies that if the situation changes and the student finds himself in a different family setting, he or she will choose something else altogether. Determinism tries to find the underlying reason behind a behavior. One does not wake up one morning and decide to accept a career in medicine; there are some underlying factors that build up behind the scenes and materialize into the decision one sees later in the life of an individual (James and Stuart, p 101).
The connection between artificial intelligence and personal identity
Human is constantly in the search for better technology. Advancement in the technological sector (Vance p 1). Technology made life better and gave more time that would end up wasted into tedious tasks. With more technical progress brings with it more time, more times means more experience and more life translates into more time. More time gives humans the ability to live their lives to the fullest as they try to find the meaning of life through artificial intelligence. Google is one of the largest tech firms that work on artificial intelligence. The firm donated $250,000 to the singular project in universities (Vance p 1). The singular project aims to explore artificial intelligence and the potential benefits to humanity. Concepts such as nanotechnology and robotics are closely associated with artificial intelligence. Thus, the exploration of artificial intelligence is seen as a shot at immortality. Through artificial intelligence, humans can live youthful lives forever. At least even if they cannot concur death entirely, something derived from their life can have it all and continue living (Vance p 1).
Conclusion
Personal identity embodies the personality of an individual, and it develops over time. The mind and the body store memories within the confines of the body. On the other hand, the brain processes information and experiences connecting the thought with actions of the body. The mind and the body coordination explain the reason why people retain their personality with time.
Works cited
Vance Ashlee. Merely Human? That is so yesterday. (2010).NYS. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/section/books?module=SectionsNav&action=click&version=BrowseTree®ion=TopBar&contentCollection=Books&pgtype=article
Rachels James and Rachels Stuart. Problems from Philosophy 3rd edition.
