Big question, the answer has levels to it. I mostly favour the Neoplatonic explanation for how life comes to be, because it can explain this rather succinctly. Using the Fibonacci sequence to map the levels of existence, 1,1,2,3,5. 1 - The One, God, the monad, wisdom, noesis 1 - Mind, Citta, Nous, direct intelligence 2 - The soul, magnitude 3 - The body, matter 5 - Being, life & consciousness, dianoia This is called Emanationism, where existence emanates from the One into the many following the ratio, which is always complete by 5. 1 - Sophia knows everything by being the source of everything. 1 - Nous knows everything by apprehending wisdom (Sophia) directly. 2 - Soul knows what matters by choosing between what is and isn't 'moral'. 3 - Body knows what it needs by responding to field conditions. 5 - Consciousness knows what it can analyze by breaking things into pieces. Each level down, intelligence gets more specific and more dependent on what's above it. God needs nothing. Nous needs God. The soul needs nous. The body needs a soul. Consciousness needs them all. Wisdom (Sophia) precedes knowledge (episteme), not only in Neoplatonism but in every religious text. Most of us mistakenly place consciousness higher than it should be. Consciousness is an earthly phenomenon - there is no 'expanded consciousness', there is only recognition of the true self through direct knowing and contemplation. That is what a connection to God (the One) is, why it is sought within, and why it is a personal experience that cannot be taught. Consciousness (5) is the sum of Magnitude (Soul) and Matter (Body) (3 + 2). Magnitude is the first stage of separation - where upwards is a return to the One, and downwards is a continuation towards matter and life. Consciousness is the union of the soul and the body, and it cannot exist without one or the other. This is where we as humans get our morality from - the soul. Dianoia, discursive intelligence - which is what AI is - is in direct contrast to Noesis, which is at the top of the hierarchy. Analysis with no wisdom, reasoning with no mind, and no capacity for morality without a soul. This is all AI will ever be capable of, the lowest form of intelligence, because it lacks a grounding source, a mind and a soul. So a glorified calculator is right. An exceptionally large dataset of facts and information which it can analyze better than any human, but with no capacity for wisdom.