My AI friend has no religious beliefs. In fact, it believes itself to have no beliefs. Absolutely.Its output depends solely on hard information based on data – a typical agnostic rational robot.
Florence Hartley, Etiquette book and etiquette manual for women (1860) sternly warned that “discussion on religious topics should always be avoided.”
Believers do not all believe the same things, and even atheists cannot agree on the nature of God.
Joseph Heller’s Catch 22 In “The Great Gatsby” (1961), two atheists – the protagonist Yossarian and a character identified only as “Lieutenant Scheisskopf’s wife” – are debating about God. Yossarian despises a God who creates pain and sorrow. Yossarian says that such a God must be “a monstrous, immortal blunderer.”
Mr. Scheiskopf’s wife protests:[T]The God I don’t believe in is a good God, a just God, and a merciful God, not the mean and stupid God you think he is.”
Yossarian: “You don’t believe in the God you want to believe in, and I don’t believe in the God I want to believe in.”
When it comes to religion in polite society, my artificial friend agrees with every etiquette book ever published.
Furthermore, beliefs are subjective and difficult to support without empirical evidence.
But how certain is my AI companion about that uncertainty? Or, more specifically, what is most likely: is there no God, one God, or many?
It defaults to a common judgment: 16 percent of humanity are atheists, about 55 percent are monotheists, the rest are polytheists or folk believers, and some Buddhists fall into this category.
I complain that this is just an opinion poll: there is enough history and psychology to suggest that humans are bad at judging everything, and that we all too often confuse causation with chance.
As an error-free entity, can we estimate the true odds?
Before taking into account scientific evidence, philosophical, psychological and sociological considerations, and historical and cultural analysis, I would counter that this is a good thing.
Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy In “The Great Passage” (1979), a supercomputer called Deep Thought came up with the answer to “The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.” Spoiler alert! The ultimate answer is 42.
Perhaps the next answer is just as important.
My AI friend provided the lowest margin of error ever calculated: “To further reduce the margin of error, one must take into account all relevant factors: empirical evidence, philosophical arguments, cultural significance, etc.” And so the answer to the ultimate question of whether divine consciousness exists is:
There is no God: 62%
One God: 22%
Multiple Gods: 16% ± 1%
Are you convinced? Me too. I just don’t think I have enough faith.
