Xiaowei Fang

Designed in the late 1770s this incredible little robot called simply The Writer, was designed and built by Swiss-born watchmaker Pierre Jaquet-Droz with help from his son Henri-Louis, and Jean-Frédéric Leschot. On the outside the device is deceptively simple. A small, barefoot boy perched at a wooden desk holding a quill, easily mistaken for a toy doll. But crammed inside is an engineering marvel: 6,000 custom made components work in concert to create a fully self-contained programmable writing machine that some consider to be the oldest example of a computer.

Behind these automata, there was actually a great scientific debate. In the atmosphere of an imminent scientific dawn, various hermeticists, philosophers, and alchemists had already divided into two major factions. They were racing forward, attempting to unravel the secrets of God using these automata.

Newton remained a faithful follower of God throughout his life, firmly believing in the popular mechanistic universe view of his time. According to this view, God created the universe but refrains from intervening in its operations. God is analogous to a clockmaker, who meticulously designs a flawless set of rules for the universe's functioning and subsequently departs.

The core idea of the mechanism is that the functioning of the universe is completely predictable and explicable, akin to a complex mechanical device. This viewpoint emerged from the mechanical philosophy of the 17th century and gained widespread application and advancement during the scientific revolution. The mechanistic universe view maintains that all phenomena and laws of the material world can be explained through the principles of physics and mechanical models, encompassing celestial motions, biological processes, and human behavior.

The devout Newton, in his quest to demonstrate the presence of God, spent his entire life searching for the perfect laws that govern everything. Simultaneously, he put forth the three fundamental laws, thereby initiating modern science.

Passive mechanism view posits that God's role is limited to the design of the universe and the provision of the initial impetus. Once the initial impetus is provided, God departs and refrains from interfering with the operation of the universe. Hence, from the grandeur of the cosmos to the intricacies of the human body, they are all intricately designed puppets by God.

On the other hand, another faction, such as Leibniz and later Lamarck, adhered to a belief known as the active mechanism view. They believed that the universe and the human body, in addition to being meticulously designed puppets, are also inhabited by active spiritual entities with inherent driving forces. According to this view, it is not the initial impetus that sets the universe and the human body in motion, but rather the internal driving forces of these spiritual entities that give rise to all complex systems.

The latest micro-expression robot developed by Engineered Arts, code-named "Ameca," has been released. Through AI technology, Ameca autonomously controls its micro-expressions, allowing it to create incredibly subtle facial movements that make it appear highly realistic and lifelike.

https://youtu.be/IPukuYb9xWw

A mathematician professor named Alan Turing strongly argues that we don't need to attempt to understand God; all we need to do is mimic God through algorithms and programming.

So, in 1950, the groundbreaking thought experiment known as the Turing test was proposed. Regardless of the underlying process, all that is needed is a room where, if it can answer all my questions, I can confidently declare that the room possesses intelligence and a soul.

With the recent emergence of ChatGPT in the past few days, perhaps we are getting closer to an answer. Through artificial intelligence, humanity may indeed be able to mimic God, and we might even surpass God's abilities. We are on the verge of creating a species, AI (artificial intelligence), that is more intelligent than ourselves.