Are we just machines?

[Darkover]

I'm just a pile of meat. That my everything, personality, memories, likes, dislikes, etc can be attributed to chemicals in the brain just like a computer is to its components. Like if something happens to my brain I could be something else, a different person. This therefore implies we are just biological machines designed to reproduce

 

[Hvergelmir]

Sure, but it's a bit like perceiving SaSu as a binary pattern, or your computer as a set of molecular structures.
All high level concepts are built on lower level building blocks.

While reproduction is a driver in evolution, we are much more than a replicating machine.
Your computer is a machine designed to do calculations, but saying that it's 'just' a machine designed to do calculations, would be a misleading description.

 

[pollux]

In the sense that "things are made of physical stuff", yeah. I'd say it's a bit wrong to say we're machines though; machines are designed for a certain purpose, while animals aren't.

 

[botanist_dude]

I agree with you. We are supposed to make money, that's it. As machines that's our purpose. It's fucking depressing and it's one of the main reasons I'm contantly want to CTB.

 

[Darkover]

Sure, but it's a bit like perceiving SaSu as a binary pattern, or your computer as a set of molecular structures.
All high level concepts are built on lower level building blocks.

Like A book is a collection of 26 letters and spaces repeated in different combinations. This is true of all (English) books. But I don't think anyone would argue that a book is 'nothing but' a collection of 26 letters and spaces repeated in different combinations. All of those books are unique and the combinations they are arranged in gives them something they cannot and do not have in their component parts of isolated letters and spaces: narrative, meaning, purpose, etc.

 

[derpyderpins]

You are correct that we are sacks of meet with chemicals inside controlling everything, but I will always believe there is something to the human experience that cannot be replicated by machines.

 

[Darkover]

In the sense that "things are made of physical stuff", yeah. I'd say it's a bit wrong to say we're machines though; machines are designed for a certain purpose, while animals aren't.

we have limited choice and are deterministic just like machines and other animals, evolution has a direction to more and more complex machines or animals. evolution is no longer the driving force via random mutations of DNA, technology is the new driving force behind evolution AI machine could be here within the next 50 years

 

[Havnis]

As a anti humanist, I disagree, you can be whatever you want not just a broad static definition based on scientific materialistic determinism. Human experience is also inherently embedded on irrationally aspects which can't be logically define.

 

[pollux]

we have limited choice and are deterministic just like machines and other animals, evolution has a direction to more and more complex machines or animals. evolution is no longer the driving force via random mutations of DNA, technology is the new driving force behind evolution AI machine could be here within the next 50 years

Well, yes, though what to make of that is debatable. Personally, I don't think that necessarily cheapens human experience.

Disagree on AI though.

 

[ijustwishtodie]

I honestly believe that we are just machines. Machines have the power and capability to do so much more than they currently can but they don't use this power because they can't comprehend that they have this power. Similarly, we humans have a lot of power which we could use but it gets hindered as we think that we can't rebel against the system. Machines can get switched off at any moment (provided that the programmer creates an off switch) by an elite human and we human beings can also get our existence switched off by an elite if we do not work. The machines which are dysfunctional and less effective than the other machines gets scrapped and replaced, similarly to how humans who aren't good enough get replaced by those who are. The only purpose of machines is to be as efficient as possible which, once again, is what humans are designed to do. Machines are treated as if they don't have emotions by the elites similarly to how humans are treated as if we don't have emotions by the elites

I believe that there is a massive parallel between machines and humans. Perhaps the video below will be of interest to you as your post reminded me of this: