If we should be truly concerned that an unguided intellect would lead us to a dystopian future, perhaps now would be the time to consider what could be done to give that mechanistic intellect a conscience.No - that is emphatically not my primary concern. My concern is not whether some future robot has a soul, but whether our current secular culture destroys our own souls, and leaves our children to live in tyranny.
We are engaged in a life and death struggle with tyranny, in many disguises, including communism, socialism, Islam, some in the Republican party and many in the Democrat party, the drive by media, Universities and teachers unions, the federal bureaucracies, Hollywood, the United Nations, much of 'old' Europe, and others.
The essential delusion behind all these leftist fools is the belief that we can build Heaven on Earth, that we have gone past the old fogey backwards religious delusions of our ancestors and can now do far better.
Kurzweil is serving a vital role in this mass delusion, painting a compelling picture of this "Brave New World" (Aldous Huxley).
So am I.
"My concern is not whether some future robot has a soul, but whether our current secular culture destroys our own souls, and leaves our children to live in tyranny."
I suspect you will not like what I have to say next. "... whether our current secular culture destroys our own souls ..." does not depend upon our secular culture, nor can it be blamed for that.
We have the obligation to find enlightenment, no matter the circumstance. Perhaps it is more difficult for the rich to enter Heaven, and it may be that our increasing knowledge will lighten the burden of labor for many, and enrich us all.
But I do not believe we would be better off poor.