An Exploration into the Nature of the Making of Human and Artifcial Intelligence and the Qur’anic Persepctive

Abstract

The ongoing controversy over artificial and human intelligence is
characterized by open disagreement. Some researchers believe that artificial
intelligence has the potential to become equal to or even superior to
human intelligence, while others say that such a development is impossible.
The thesis of this paper is that the gap between human and artificial
intelligence is bound to remain considerable, both in the short term and
in the long term. The concepts of human cultural symbols and the
Qur’anic vision of human intelligence are intduced in support of this
thesis. Humanity’s ability to manipulate cultural symbols, upon which the
phenomenon of human intelligence depends, is a uniquely human characteristic.
And this uniqueness, according to the Qur’an, is the direct result
of a divine decision, not of evolution. As such an ability and many of the
mysteries of that power, are hardly accessible to humans, how would
human researchers be able to include them in the design of artificial intelligence
machines?
In the last two decades, research in the field of artificial intelligence
(hereinafter referred to as AI) has made considerable headway on both the
theoretical and the applied levels. The input into the field has not been
restricted only to cybernetics and information process experts; neurophysiologists,
cognitive psychologists, philosophers, and sociologists’ have
also been interested in human intelligence (hereinafter referred to as HI)
and AI. As AI infrastructures and authority continue to expand in modem
and postmodem societies, specialists in other areas will have to become
involved.
For scientists, basic and applied research into A1 constitute an exciting ...