"I" for Information?

A recurring theme in the sci-fi movies nowadays is the notion that self or conscience is nothing but the aggregate of information in our brains. Classically expressed, according to this notion, what I call "I" is equal to the accumulation of all of the information throughout my life in my memory. I would like to put this interpretation under scrutiny in the light of basic human experience, modern scientific findings and pillars of faith.

At the foundation, let's see what makes a human being in terms of information. First, there is the genetic inheritance. The genetic information contains your talents, your weaknesses, your organs, etc. This code alone, however, is not enough to engender what we call life experiences. Aside from the genes, there is the chemical environment both in and around our bodies. These chemicals, be them good or bad, sometimes limit or boost the genetic activity, and sometimes they dictate how our genes are going to work. Aside from these, there are the people around us. Our experiences with them (parents, siblings, friends, relatives, society) shape our memories and our psychology. You can still dump all of these into the chemical bath in an individual's brain. Having distilled everything into material components, that is not considering any spiritual factors, if you look at what you have in hand, you'll see countless molecules interacting with each other through a unique structure. So, the first question is can you even make a copy of this?

Decoding a person's life events from their memory is not the same as decoding their psychology, since each person reacts and changes differently upon the same or similar events. This is true both in the biological sense and in the psychological sense. Therefore, in order to call something an exact replica of you, there is this daunting task of deciphering what you are, in the first place.

Second, according to the uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics, there is a limit of what you can know about a system. You can not learn everything about it, let alone copying. Then again, can you call something, which is at best similar to you, a replica of you?

At this point, let me make a clarification. By these comments I don't mean to discourage any studies to learn about how human mind works etc. My intention is to criticize the subjective philosophical attachments to the objective scientific studies and findings, since those attachments either don't make sense or contradict with the basic tenets of belief in Islam.

Going on with our discussion, let's assume somehow you deciphered all the information that makes you you, and then you copied this digital you. Now, are there two of you? For that matter, is there a limit to how many times you can "recreate" yourself? Furthermore, what if someone deletes you? Is that person a murderer?

Plus, what if that "you", by virtue of working on a digital computer, commits a cyber crime? Is "you" going to be punished for this? If yes, how? Or let's make it funny. Assuming that you and your digital copy are alive in the same time frame, and your digital copy commits a crime, and the officials put you in prison, or worse, they give you capital punishment. How would you like it?

What about in the afterlife? If there are hundreds of you, which one is going to be the real you to go to hell or heaven? This idea, in this sense, is similar to the idea of reincarnation, and has a fatal error in terms of the pillars of faith.

It is flattering to think that you can evade death by creating a digital you, but is it really you? The push by the materialistic and atheistic philosophy is the expectation that concepts like free will and conscience are all going to be proven as an artifact of the chemistry and electrodynamics in our brains. This is a mere wishful thinking on their side, which they are free to do, but it is not fair to advertise it or talk about it as a scientific truth.

Also, on the believers' side, it is important to be cautious, because an idea is not necessarily true only because it contains bits of scientific information and it is voiced by scientists or influential people. Such feelings of inferiority arises due to lack of information, weakness of faith and a disconnection with the revealed word of our Creator.

Emotion Management - 5

A machine is a machine because it does exactly what we design it for. However, there are machines that do the same thing no matter when and where, and there are machines that can learn and adapt to who, when and where. Today's smart technologies are distinguished from the past technologies, mainly because they can evolve and do things that were not explicitly registered in their memory in the beginning. More technically speaking, they "learn". How do they do it? Of course by "reading", "analyzing", "predicting", "trying" and "not fearing failure".

Wait a second! I said "not fearing failure". A machine has no emotions. How can it fear? If you think so, too, this is exactly the point I am trying to make. A machine has no conscience and no free will to deliberately try something. If there is no intention, there is no failure. So, failure and the feelings and emotions coming with it are the things that we, humans, have in our minds. That's why it is meaningless to shout at your car when it breaks down; or a car is not guilty in case of an accident but its driver, although it is the car what made the harm and damage. Therefore, both success and failure comes with a prerequisite of intention.

Accordingly, when we talk about the learning of the machines, we are automatically considering the intentions of the designers and manufacturers manifest in that machine and its actions. Also, when we say that machines don't fear failure, we are basically confirming the famous observation that "success usually comes from consistent trials and learning from errors, without succumbing to the shame of failure."

Although virtually everybody is in favor of the development and deployment of technology, which feeds from the tolerance shown for the mistakes on the way, we humans are not as welcoming to the human mistakes. We have a tendency to curtail the "courage to stand up and try again" in others and in ourselves. Except for babies and sometimes little children!

Remember, failure or success has a prerequisite of intention. A baby or a little child has no clear intention, and are innocent. That's how they get away without being reprimanded or punished for their mistakes as an adult, and that's how they go on trying.

Why is this topic important for us, when we are discussing emotion management? At the end of the previous episode, we had said "So, we need to develop an emotional immunity to travel on the questionable grounds, build brakes to avoid sins and acquire connections to recovery methods in case we sin." A rule of thumb in all of the three cases in this sentence is to keep going. That is, no matter what happens, as quickly as possible, as much as possible and as diverse as possible, go on doing good deeds.

"Indeed, Allah leaves astray whom He wills and guides to Himself whoever turns back [to Him]. Those who have believed and whose hearts are assured by the remembrance of Allah. Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah hearts are assured. Those who have believed and done righteous deeds - a good state is theirs and a good return." (13/27-29)

In order to better digest this verse, remember that in the Quranic terminology, heart does not refer to the biological heart (7/179). It refers to our thinking ability with common sense. If anything, the word heart in the Quran refers to the brain. One can ask at this point why, instead of saying brain directly, is the heart mentioned? If you think in terms of our topic, you can have a glance of the answer. Thoughts are not free of emotions, and emotions are linked to the heart in the public speech. So, the concept of "a heart that understands" comprises all of these.

The verse quoted above admonishes that Allah guides those who return to Him. In order to return, you must first be heading away! Upon your experiences, whatever they might be, you must return to Him through remembrance of a thinking heart that energizes good deeds. With this state, you are promised a warm welcome with your Lord. And such warm welcome is the manifestation of the fact that your Creator does not define you through your mistakes but through your returns; a fact that encourages further attempts of discovery and an attitude that fosters love and belonging to your Friend.

In this context, you can remember the story of Nuayman ibn Amr, a companion of the prophet Muhammad pbuh. This companion, although fought in the name of God in many battles and pursued other good deeds in his life, could not give up alcohol despite the clear ban by Allah. Nevertheless, he never succumbed to his failure to give up, but always stood up and tried again. And for this attitude of his, he was praised by the messenger of God.

Emotion Management - 4

We finished the last discussion by saying that you cannot be sure of the correctness of all your actions. At the same time, it is known that prophet Muhammad pbuh recommends to stay away from the suspicious and stick to the certain (Tirmidhi, 2518). Then, are we to suppress all our instincts to strictly follow those that are purely licit?

"Religion is very easy and whoever overburdens himself in his religion will not be able to continue in that way." (Bukhari, 39)

"Allah intends every facility for you; He does not want to put you to difficulties." (2/185)

"God does not impose on any soul a responsibility beyond its ability." (2/286)

If you look carefully, the messenger of God makes recommendations to the believers to provide them guiding principles in a life that is becoming increasingly gray. That's why you can find hadiths that are pointing at different aspects of the same issue. In the above hadiths, he admonishes us not to force ourselves in a case where there is no clear order or prohibition from God. And this notion of conformity to the nature (which is given by God anyway) is also underlined by the verses quoted above. The unwanted extreme in this case is abusing the word of God in order to justify anything you desire:

"... then as for those in whose hearts there is perversity they follow the part of it which is allegorical, seeking to mislead and seeking to give it (their own) interpretation ..." (3/7)

Still, if you talk to religious people, many of them would suggest you to take the hard way and force yourself as much as possible, and take the easy ways only when you have no other choice. They say that, if you don't to this, you are running the risk of "acquiring your desires as your god", a state which is alluded to in the Quran (25/43). So, with a threat supported from the Quran, your fear kicks in, and you say "how hard can it be?". But not too long after that, you find yourself in the same situation that took you to oppressing yourself and banging your head on the same walls. You start questioning whether the ease of the religion is only for beginners and not for the experienced believers, whether God values the beginners more than those who have aged in belief. Your reason forces yourself to shut up and take your manners, but your soul rebels, your head gets awash with emotions, and your brain literally heats up. You want to shut your brain, if only once, to taste the ease in religion, to become a beginner loved and valued by God, despite shortcomings and mistakes. And...

And when things cool down, this time, you are drowning in feelings of guilt. At the same time, however, your thirst for your natural needs have been quenched, and the experience of not being thirsty gives you a deep satisfaction, for which your guilt heats up (benefits of sin). But again, now you know what is natural and what is artificial. Forcing yourself to follow a strictly licit path proved to be impractical, although completely rational. On the other hand, following a path mixed with question marks and taking risks turned out to be manageable, although partially rational.

Comparing the two states, in the first, when you were forcing yourself, according to your perception, your state was certainly true, and following a life that way would certainly lead to paradise in the afterlife. It is as simple as two plus two makes four. In the second state, however, because of the questionable things you have done, you know well that you are at the mercy of your Lord. But wait a second! Aren't we supposed to have this understanding of being at the mercy of our Lord anyway, instead of having confidence in our deeds?

"Do good deeds properly, sincerely and moderately and know that your deeds will not make you enter Paradise, and that the most beloved deed to Allah is the most regular and constant even if it were little." (Bukhari, 6464)

"Did they then feel secure against the Plan of Allah. None feels secure from the Plan of Allah except the people who are the losers." (7/99)

Let's now put things together on the table to see the big picture. First, we cannot live blind to our emotions. They are messages from our Lord, and we must heed them to fare safely on the way of God. Life of certainty, and so devoid of emotions, is certain to lead to an unstable journey that ends God knows where. Second, if we heed our emotions, they occasionally take us to questionable actions or even push us towards certain sins. So, we need to develop an emotional immunity to travel on the questionable grounds, build brakes to avoid sins and acquire connections to recovery methods in case we sin.