You are missing a fundamental distinction between teleonomic and teleogenic systems. Teleonomic systems—from the simplest thermostat to the most complex AI system imaginable, have their set points externally defined by their designers and operators—that is, human beings like ourselves. Quite simply, they do what we design and program them to do. Conversely, teleogenic systems— everything from the simplest bacteria to ourselves—engender their own intrinsic set point—eating, surviving, and reproducing—to which all our other choices and behaviors are subordinate. This is what we generally call our “souls.” They are also the basis of our capacity for empathy and compassion. Whereas AI systems just don’t care, and will do as they are programmed to do without complaining—like smart bombs destroying themselves on impact or the Cassini probe plunging into Saturn’s dense atmosphere at the end of its mission. To be alive is to care—whether only about ourselves (like Donald Trump) or about ourselves and others (like normal, healthy people).