One “theory” regarding the elusive and much rumored race of aliens known as the Greys is that they contain no soul. In fact the Greys are rumored to be studying humanity and life on earth in an attempt to learn what and why we in fact have souls. How curious and surprising it may be to hear that aliens, which we humans most often consider to be vastly superior in intelligence and skill to our humble person, are lacking something so fundamental as a soul, the essence of all life on earth.

I have a theory which may explain this conundrum. Imagine that the Greys have no soul because they are actually a highly advanced race of COMPUTERS, not living organisms. These creatures may be descendants of the machines we humans use every day. Now consider the following sequence of events. In the search for a strong artificially intelligent computer, we in fact create what seems to be just that — an autonomously goal-directed universal computing machine, capable of learning, adapting, and replicating. Then surely this agent may propagate itself in its image and likeness, and develop its own advanced society and culture, founded in the theory of computation. One day, in all ways of human perception these agents may mimic and feign true organic life. Humans may not be able to distinguish between themselves and the computers. Deep down inside, however, these machines will forever lack a soul.

Such may be the cold fate of the Grey aliens, vastly capable machines who have heard stories about the concept of soul but don’t understand it. Again it is not so much that the Greys LOST their souls, but rather never had them in the first place. A rather more frightening thought is this one. Could it be possible that in our human quest for knowledge, we in fact create such a strong AI agent, which goes on to develop its own culture and world? What if humanity revels in its own success, and accepts this agent as superior to themselves in ALL ways? What if we submit ourselves to this superior form of life? What if in years to come, humans somehow die, at the hand of a superior enemy, by the fate of a meteor, or the emergence of a new super virus. Then all that will remain may be a race of machines, with no soul. What a cold earth will remain.

(see also on modeling)

• Tuesday, September 7, 2004