Saturday, May 09, 2009

God and the Turing Test

I don't remember how I got to thinking about this, but I've been thinking about how a person comes to a belief in God, and I think the atheists are coming at the problem in the wrong way. To say that since I haven't actually seen God's face, God does not exist, is like saying I believe your computer is an intelligent being just because I've heard its voice. Computer Scientists know that intelligence is more interesting than that, and much more difficult to pinpoint. A very smart computer scientist came up with a test called the Turing test, where if a person that interacts with the computer can't tell that it isn't another person, then the computer program has reached artificial intelligence. I think the process of reasoning that God exists needs to follow the same lines as that persons search for intelligence in a computer program. God isn't a thing that can be touched, just like intelligence isn't a thing that can be touched. What I'm really trying to say, is that us computer scientists can only prove that a computer is "intelligent" through a relationship with that computer. We relate, and if we can't tell we are not relating with another intelligent being, then we must be relating with an intelligent being, even if that intelligent being happens to be artificial. The scientist just begin with a leap of "faith" that allows the "relationship" to start. We have to keep talking to allow the Turing test to work. What if we apply this test in a relationship with God? Just like above, we need to start with a suspension of disbelief, so that the relationship can be tested. Perhaps God is like an intelligent software program with no hardware requirements? (I know I'm lisping here... because God is much more, but perhaps you can start there...)

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