Science and technology that actually is a challenge for the religious.

I will be honest and say this is, at best, only tangentially related to the post about Earth 2.0 and its "problem" for believers in God.

I find posts like that annoying, because most major religions have little to nothing to say about alien life, because their sources were parochial and tribal that became universal. So God of Israel became God of Earth, became God of the universe, etc. Its simply an expansion on previous ideas.

However, my post isn't even about God, or belief in any gods in particular.

Actually, its kinda hard to sum up what this post is actually about, I guess, at its base its about the self. Its just that I like to know about the latest discoveries and technologies coming up, along with speculation and extrapolations about possible future ones, I wonder what religious people think of them. Particularly those religious people who believe in some type of immaterial soul.

I will most likely reference some science fiction here, but before people discount this as speculation or flights of fancy, think of something like this:

http://www.nature.com/srep/2015/150706/srep11869/full/srep11869.html

Its happening, now. There have even been actual, brain in a vat cyborgs created in the lab, and they worked:

There are other examples out there, brain implants(in humans) to aid in direct communication with computers, bona fide, technologically assisted telepathy in animals, etc.

Actually, I want to start with a medical procedure that has been practiced since about the 1950s to treat severe seizures. The treatment itself involves cutting the Corpus callosum, which is a massive bundle of nerve fibres that allows the two hemispheres of the brain communicate. This greatly reduces or eliminates the seizures, but has some odd side effects. Some patients even seem to be of two minds. What I always wondered is, are they still one soul? I'm a materialist, so for me, the idea of a single body hosting two minds, even in the same brain, isn't really a challenge if it can be demonstrated objectively.

The fact is, and if you knew anyone with only half a brain, and I'm being literal here, you would know that one half is, for lack of a better phrase, all you need. Its not ideal, but there are people walking around, talking, working and living full lives who have had half their brain removed for one reason or another. The brain is awesome in its neuroplasticity, it can adapt to all sorts of conditions and damage to itself. Knowing this, why couldn't two halves, severed from easy neural communication, develop into two minds?

I do wonder about the experience of split-brained patients, what it actually is like? I've heard they aren't under much undue duress, but generally that's only verifiable of the vocal part of the patient, it gets complicated. But, long story short, we apparently need the Corpus callosum to make sure I stays as I and not we. But then I'm drawn to the first link I made in this post, about the 4 rat brains that are connected and communicating directly. It appears rat brains are adaptable enough to be able to communicate with other brains with some learning, would the same hold true for humans? I don't really see why not, and aside from the ethics of experimentation, and I would say treatment of neurological disorders may be the first place to start, but if we were to link two previously independent brains in a type of artificial Corpus callosum, would they develop a new mind, and dissolve the old ones? Would their consciousnesses merge? What would happen to their souls?

Here's a mind-bender, going back to the rat brains, what if the combination of those brains(probably more than 4) decided to say hello through whatever medium is available to it? Is it a new mind? A new consciousness? A new soul?

Of course, this might not be as challenging as other issues, what if we changed mediums. Rather than biological, but rather constructed minds? Could a current consciousness change into such a medium, no longer relying on the biological brain to continue thinking? What if it were gradual, starting with implants, that eventually lead to a brain that is 100% artificial, rather than biological. At what point did that consciousness cease to exist? When did that person die? Do those questions make sense? What about computers that, for all intents and purposes, seem to exercise a will of their own and not just pre-programmed responses, would they be new souls, new consciousnesses?

I remember back to the movie Short Circuit 2, there was a scene where Johnny 5, after trying to fit into New York city, actually went to a Catholic Church to ask questions. Mostly about the soul and himself. The Priest was actually sympathetic until he realized he was talking to a robot(it was in the booth, through the screen), and his assumption was the Johnny 5 was remote controlled and kicked him out. But I wonder what would happen in the future, would a priest take the confession of a conscious robot?

I'm also reminded of Hugh Jackman's character in Chappie, if you haven't watched the movie, sorry, some spoilers. Basic premise is that the creator/lead programmer of a new class of robot is working on actually AI for his creations, and he succeeded, Jackman, being the leader of a competing team for a human controlled robot is very religious, and when he realized a conscious robot exists, is appalled and calls it an abomination. Conflict ensues. Its the only movie I can think of since Short Circuit 2 that touched upon the religious reaction to AI. Oh, and I will say that one of the biggest criticisms of Chappie is its similarity to Short Circuit 1 and 2, I would say the only similarities are a robot that acts like a child at first, and grows into their circumstances, that's about it. Chappies goes into some interesting territory that those other movies never touched.

So what do you guys think?

As I said, I'm a materialist, to me, the way someone's consciousness exists is really secondary to whether one exists at all. Theory of mind can easily be extended to all the scenarios I laid out. The idea of souls seems to be irrelevant.