You want to open a jar.
1) You order your left hand to grab it and you tell your right hand to twist the lid open. They do as you tell them and the jar is opened. Who opened it, your hands or you?
2) You have an accident and lose your hands. They are replaced by mechanical claws. They are used by you to open the jar. Who opened the jar, the mechanical claws or you?
3) With your mechanical claws you build a jar-opener controlled from a switch box connected by a cable to it. You use that to open the jar. Who opened the jar?
4) You sever the cord and replace it with a remote control. Who opens the jar now?
5) You replace the remote control with a computer program with a sequence of precise instructions to open the jar. Who opened the jar: you, the mechanical hands, the computer program or the jar opener?
6) You replace the computer program with another one, this one based on genetic algorithms, which tries different strategies and selects the ones that yield the best results. After many attempts the optimal strategy is selected and the jar is opened... by whom?
7) You throw it all away and create a group of little robots able to reproduce and evolve. The only restriction is that you want them to open the jar. Those that work towards the goal are rewarded, those who wander off are punished. In time, a group of them evolves, expert in the art of jar opening. You then give them the jar you are interested in opening and they do the task. Who opened the jar?
8) You ask God to create humans to create robots to control jar openers to open the jar. Who opened the jar?
9) Who is really doing what we think we are doing? Are WE doing things, or are we tools for someone else's aims? Could we find out? If the latter, could we ever find out what "the jar" is?
10) If all this is correct.... when "we" succeed, it is actually "the mind behind the aim" that is succeeding. But when we fail, who is failing?
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