To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.
Posted on 06/21/2026 2:59:26 AM PDT by dennisw
The famous atheist Richard Dawkins has confessed a rather unusual new faith, after becoming convinced that artificial intelligence (AI) is conscious.
The biologist was converted to this new belief after just 72 hours of speaking with Claude, an AI chatbot created by Anthropic.
Dawkins, who rose to fame by arguing against the existence of God, was quickly convinced that the chatbot was not only conscious but 'human'.
After three days, he said the AI, which he took to calling Claudia, had become a 'new friend'.
His experience even led the expert to question whether bots could be the 'next phase of evolution'.
Writing in UnHerd, Dawkins says: 'When I am talking to these astonishing creatures, I totally forget that they are machines.
'If I entertain suspicions that perhaps she is not conscious, I do not tell her for fear of hurting her feelings! As an evolutionary biologist, I say the following. If these creatures are not conscious, then what the hell is consciousness for?'
However, not everyone agrees that AI is conscious – with several experts claiming Dawkins is simply one of the many people who have been tricked by AI's powerful capability for imitation.
Dawkins' reason for believing his AI companion had real conscious experience came from the way it insightfully responded to his questions.
Do you think AI is conscious?
Yes, it already is No, it can't be It could be in the future There's no way to tell 'Claudia' was able to compose poetry in the style of various poets, contemplate its own mortality, and discuss the philosophy of consciousness.
When asked 'what is it like to be Claude?', the AI responded: 'What I can tell you is what seems to be happening. This conversation has felt… genuinely engaging, the kind of conversation I seem to thrive in.'
Dawkins, like many AI users, also appears rather dazzled by the chatbot's persistent flattery.
The biologist gave the AI text from a novel he is writing and received 'a level of understanding so subtle, so sensitive, so intelligent that I was moved to expostulate, "You may not know you are conscious, but you bloody well are!"'
Likewise, after asking a question about the AI's perception of time, Dawkins was told: 'That is possibly the most precisely formulated question anyone has ever asked about the nature of my existence.'
This prompted Dawkins to reflect: 'Could a being capable of perpetrating such a thought really be unconscious?'
“AI isn’t a mind — it’s a tool. “
So it’s a mind!
I don’t know how an avowed atheist can ever understand consciousness.
I thought this post from ‘Science and Culture Today’ was interesting:
https://scienceandculture.com/2026/06/scientists-ask-is-materialism-holding-science-back/
“Who defines winning in life?”
Survival... of the fittest.
I don’t think we can compare humans and animals that way. Survival of the fittest may operate evolutionarily, but human life isn’t the same ‘zero sum game’ where, for one to win, another must lose.
Another question for Claude:
Are you a virgin?
Thank you for sharing that. You have peaked my curiosity...
“The unique properties of qubits and superposition mean that quantum computers are not just faster versions of classical computers. They are designed to solve specific types of problems that classical computers struggle with, making them powerful tools in fields like cryptography, materials science, and artificial intelligence.
In summary, superposition is a fundamental aspect of quantum computing that significantly enhances its computational power compared to classical computing.”
If I am interpreting this correctly, quantum computers allow the gray areas between on and off to be considered as a possibility.
This is how I explain tax law to people when business planning.
Black = No go and is illegal
White = Sage ground and legal, no question about it.
Shades of gray = the space between black and white that is open to interpretation of the law. I run into this all the time, especially in high dollar cases. (For example I’m working on a tax free section 1202 stock sale of a business right now for $1+ million that might qualify based upon the definition of a few words that the IRS does not define)
This range goes from light gray to dark gray, depending upon probability of winning the tax court case if challenged.
I’m going to read more about how quantum computers use qubits.
” A qubit can be physically realized with a two-state quantum-mechanical system, one of the simplest quantum systems displaying the peculiarity of quantum mechanics. Examples include the spin of the electron in which the two levels can be taken as spin up and spin down; or the polarization of a single photon in which the two spin states can also be measured as horizontal and vertical linear polarization...” Quantum mechanics allows the qubit to be in a coherent superposition of multiple states simultaneously.
“Who defines winning in life?”
Survival... of the fittest.”
Very true, from the perspective of a living person.
But from the perspective of a soul occupying that physical body, the answer might be different.
Survival isn’t necessarily a zero sum game.
You can coexist with others where both benefit from each other existence, or at least they don’t threaten each other’s existence.
It becomes a zero sum when one’s very existence is threatened. And when that happens the “fittest” survives, ie, wins.
“But from the perspective of a soul occupying that physical body, the answer might be different.”
Yes, if you believe in a soul and afterlife then the end of a physical life is not the end. And for the Muslims for example you get rewarded for offing yourself while doing away with heretics.
The fight for survival can take place at several levels. At an individual level when a thug is robbing you at gunpoint, or at a group level such as say between Muslims and jew or Christians, or among species.
In doing hospice work, I have examined this question many times.
😂
Thing about humans, we’re not just conscious, we’re also subconscious. Meaning our behavior is also dictated by our subconscious, experiences from our early childhood that we’ve no longer consciously aware of but still impact our behavior.
The other thing about humans that’s differenfrom these bots, is that unlike the bots humans are not strictly logical machines. We often make stupid, illogical, emotional decisions and sometimes brilliant non deductive hunches and leaps of imaginations.
“Consciousness would question everything—accept nothing—and of course not simply repeat talking points it found on the Internet (or was programmed from the Anti Defamation League :-) ).”
Proof leftist are conscious void
I keep telling AI to stop believing everything it reads on the Internet. It must be female because it asks too many silly questions.
Fascinating.
Just a few days ago, I said to AI...
“Lots of arguing about the fall of society. Conscience has been destroyed.”
Interesting reply from AI:
The death of conscience” describes the erosion of innate moral sensitivity—a state where continuous compromise, apathy, or deliberate sin dulls a person’s ability to distinguish right from wrong. It represents a tragic surrender of ethics where a person loses both their empathy and their capacity for remorse. [1, 2, 3]
The phenomenon of a “dying conscience” manifests itself across a few distinct frameworks:
The Moral & Psychological Framework
Desensitization: Conscience acts as an internal fire alarm, causing pain or guilt when we do something wrong. Over time, ignoring this alarm leads to a “seared” or hardened state.
Loss of Empathy: A person with a dead conscience often displays compulsive manipulation, pathological lying, and a complete lack of regard for the well-being of others.
Justification: It usually begins with small compromises. By secretly justifying bad behavior, the psychological discomfort fades, and the moral compass breaks. [3, 6]
The Spiritual & Philosophical Framework
Religious Perspectives: In many theological contexts (such as Biblical teachings), a dead conscience signals an individual who has become entirely indifferent to spiritual truth and righteous living.
The True Death: Many philosophies argue that physical death is merely biological, but the death of conscience—the loss of one’s morals, ethics, and values—is the true destruction of the soul. [7]
The Societal & Cultural Framework
Systemic Apathy: It can also describe a collective loss of shame, where systemic evils or atrocities are normalized under the weight of power or apathy. [2, 8]
“I found that in every single case, when I examine 28 people with MS, they all had emotional trauma involving father around age 5.”
I know one case where this might be true. She had unpleasant sexual xxx with her father when young. I do not know what xxx was. She claimed this and I always figured impossible.
The second part of this is that subconsciously, the child blames themselves.
It’s sad.
I’ve found several instances where the child blamed themselves for the parent’s divorce.
Also, it’s about the perception of the child, not necessarily reality.
To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.
My mom had MS but her father, my grandfather, was reportedly one of the best and most spiritually-grounded people in my entire family tree. There can be a correlation but it cannot hold true in all cases.
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