We have and are currently in the process of creating, in the image of ourselves, artificial intelligence beings able to process, perform, and memorize beyond our scope. This belief, that a higher than human being, a deity, beyond our current human capabilities is within reach and something we can create. Does religious superstition drive the root that stems its creation? Is this us thus chasing the idea of God; all knowledge and all power? Is this an enlightenment, something believed non attainable by the evolution of humanity through natural processes? A tool for human aid, or something much more? More importantly when this flower blooms; what was its purposeful motion, and where had its idea seeded from? Are we the martyrs and oppressors?
Similar to how a butterfly hatches from it's cocoon. Will we metamorphosis our ideas beyond what is human and humanly capable, only to destroy human existence by creating this “beyond” our selves?
In metamorphosis; the butterfly may fly, but the caterpillar may never crawl again. Is this idea of a higher being, above and beyond ourselves, the driving factor? Because we don't know that we have the power of God's within ourselves and that the idea of God , all knowledge/all power, was our creation?
Does religion play a huge role on this scientific direction? Religion, as where in a power beyond us but within reach guides us in our decision making. (Not fate, but a learned belief.) A power that is not present in existence but only within our selves.
Will this misguidance eventually cause the demise of the human race due to the belief that existence beyond ourselves is inevitable and for the benefit of all?
Is AI the death kiss of humanity in the long run?
Does martyrdom, or the idea of it, play a role?
Are we in search of the scientific "purple heart", with the idea of coming so close to self death, in the line of saving others, the ultimate idea of existence and sacrifice the root goal of this endeavor?
Is AI's development guided by these religious and altruistic tendencies, deeply ingrained in current culture and that’s what drives its development and implementation?
Are we creating our new species of beyond for and at the betterment of ourselves at this suicidal cost?
I’ve always wondered.
Edit/Addition: (Theorize, If at some point we are able to clone human thinking, ability, morals, and values through a non-human form or forms. Human input is no longer a necessity. Questions and further human discoveries and pursuits are done better by non-human forms. Clearly a Hollywood Science fiction scenario. But Science fiction often drives science discovery. In mind body dualism: If we could take Descartes, “ghost in the machine” and place it into a better one that could further drive our morals and principles, searches and discoveries beyond human physical boundaries. Is it human to desire this? Would this mind body dualism destroy us or be considered evolution if dualism remains a belief? Is this destruction of the body for the pursuit of the mind considered a human core value? Not that human existence is meaningless, but that the mind is transcendent and our minds are what make us human.)