Teleonomy

{{evolution}}
Teleonomy is a '''deliberately non-theistic way''' to describe nature in terms of purpose-driven language, with contributions<ref name="DawkinsTeleonomyContrib">{{cite web |url=http://old.richarddawkins.net/videos/3956-the-purpose-of-purpose |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2012-12-19 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140121222125/http://old.richarddawkins.net/videos/3956-the-purpose-of-purpose |archivedate=2014-01-21 |df= }}</ref> from [[Richard Dawkins]], a [[biologist]] and [[New Atheist]]. Teleonomy is contrary to [[Argument_from_design|teleological arguments]] related to purpose, and seeks to be strictly [[scientific]], while concerning goal orientation and apparent purpose with respect to organisms in nature. Teleonomy underscores that [[religion]] does not have a monopoly on purpose.
 
==Teleonomy and evolution==
Conceived by biologists {{wpl|Ernst Mayr}} and {{wpl|Colin Pittendrigh||,}} teleonomy sought to '''separate biological [[evolution]] from [[teleology]]''', since biologists had become overly cautious regarding the use of goal-based language; thus enabling biologists to describe species' goals and behaviours, minus the inadvertent invocation of religiosity/teleology. Explicitly, Mayr underlines that although organisms may undergo teleonomic processes, evolution itself is inevitably non-teleonomic.<ref name="causeandeffect">{{cite book |author=Mayr, Ernst |chapter=Cause and effect in biology |editor=Lerner, D. |title=Cause and effect |publisher=Free Press |location=New York |date=1965 |pages=33–50 }}</ref>

==Teleonomy and humans==
Richard Dawkins introduced "'''archeo purpose'''" and "'''neo purpose'''", in the regime of [[natural selection]] and evolution by [[adaptation]] respectively.<ref name="DawkinsTeleonomyContrib">{{cite web |url=http://old.richarddawkins.net/videos/3956-the-purpose-of-purpose |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2012-12-19 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140121222125/http://old.richarddawkins.net/videos/3956-the-purpose-of-purpose |archivedate=2014-01-21 |df= }}</ref>
Richard Dawkins argues that "neo purpose" concerns the ability to disregard "archeo/natural purpose"; i.e. humanity's intelligence is seemingly a way to disrupt the natural/[[Darwinian]] order. This "'''subversion of goals'''", or "neo purpose", is described as purpose attributable to [[human]]-made intention, where Dawkins seems to posit that humanity, equipped with organic general [[intelligence]], may dream up many particularly non-Darwinian goals.

Jordan Micah Bennett, an [[atheist]]/computer scientist, introduced "'''limited or fractional neo purpose'''"<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bennett|first=Jordan|date=July 2015 |title=Why is the purpose of human life to create Artificial General Intelligence? |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319235750_Why_is_the_purpose_of_human_life_to_create_Artificial_General_Intelligence}}</ref>, built atop Richard Dawkins’ neo purpose. Jordan proposes that instead of actually disrupting Darwinian-like processes as Dawkins would seem to express, that humanity's likely creation of "Artificial General Intelligence" or [[Artificial intelligence|strong AI]], is reasonably yet another way to enforce a Darwinian-like cycle, with the "survival of general intelligence" via the likely emergence of said "Artificial General Intelligence", in the natural scope/limit afforded by principles related to [[entropy]]. 

Jordan agrees with Dawkin's idea of "subversion of goals" in this scope, where the creation of Artificial General Intelligence, may not necessarily warrant the communication of human-aligned [[genes]], nor ultimately value human activities that lend to the survival of the human species, as humans draw nearer and nearer to probably inventing Artificial General Intelligence. Notably Demis Hassabis (founder of Google's Deepmind<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dfedc62e-874e-11e3-9c5c-00144feab7de.html | title=Google makes £400m move in quest for artificial intelligence | newspaper=Financial Times | date=27 January 2014 | accessdate=13 November 2014}}</ref>) and Geoffrey Hinton (referred by some in the Artificial Intelligence community as supposedly the "Godfather of Deep Learning or Deep Artificial Neural Networks"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/14/geoffrey-hinton-was-briefly-a-google-intern-in-2012-because-of-bureaucracy/|title=Geoffrey Hinton was briefly a Google intern in 2012 because of bureaucracy – TechCrunch|website=techcrunch.com|language=en-US|access-date=2018-03-28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608911/is-ai-riding-a-one-trick-pony/|title=Progress in AI seems like it's accelerating, but here's why it could be plateauing|last=Somers|first=James|work=MIT Technology Review|access-date=2018-03-28|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.utoronto.ca/news/how-u-t-s-godfather-deep-learning-reimagining-ai|title=How U of T's 'godfather' of deep learning is reimagining AI|website=University of Toronto News|language=en|access-date=2018-03-28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://phys.org/news/2017-11-godfather-deep-reimagining-ai.html|title='Godfather' of deep learning is reimagining AI|access-date=2018-03-28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.macleans.ca/society/science/the-meaning-of-alphago-the-ai-program-that-beat-a-go-champ/|title=Geoffrey Hinton, the 'godfather' of deep learning, on AlphaGo|date=2016-03-18|work=Macleans.ca|access-date=2018-03-28|language=en-US}}</ref>), express that Human Level Artificial Intelligence is "'''nowhere nearby'''", where they seek to solve this problem by for example, combining more neuroscience research with artificial intelligence research.<ref>{{cite web|date=December 2018|title=Geoffrey Hinton and Demis Hassabis: AGI is nowhere close to being a reality|url=https://venturebeat.com/2018/12/17/geoffrey-hinton-and-demis-hassabis-agi-is-nowhere-close-to-being-a-reality/}}</ref> In particular, at a recent talk, Demis Hassabis expressed that Human Level Artificial Intelligence is "several decades away".<ref>{{cite web|date=May 2015|title=Demis Hassabis, CEO, DeepMind Technologies - The Theory of Everything|url=https://youtu.be/rbsqaJwpu6A?t=919}}</ref>

==References==
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