Artificial Intelligence

I had a heated argument with my friend yesterday about whether one type of intelligence can create another type that is more intelligent than itself. I have to say that she was convincing in smashing all of my theories and hypothesis (why I thought this would be possible) and won primarily thanks to this idea: whatever model of artificial intelligence we create will be a reflection of who and what WE are, and since we have a limited knowledge of ourselves, the model would never go beyond these limitations. In other words, the model would never stop being just a model, instead of being something complete and perfect. No matter how complicated the logic behind the computational and thinking process of a computer, it will not be able to grasp what WE (humans) haven't grasped yet because we did not include it in the design of the computer's logic. Its like saying that because we haven't grasped the understanding of our conscious process (the subjective perception of ourselves) we haven't grasped the meaning of our behavior. So in a way, we can perceive ourselves as a form of intelligence designed by someone else who is invisible yet always around and observing us and keeping us in check and not letting us figure out why we know that joy is really joy and sadness is sadness and why we are who we are. I know there is me who acts and does things a certain way, but I really don't understand how I do all of these things. My model is so perfect that it knows how to do everything without me ever worrying about anything - I just concentrate on being me. Well who are we and what is our purpose on this planet? Can the computer ask the same question on its own, without being pre-programmed to do so?

Lets consider the evolution of life (a form of intelligence) from the very beginning. The Eastern and Western philosophies approach this question from two different directions. According to the Western philosophy, matter came before reason. Thus, it took a very long time for any type of reasoning or intelligence to form out of the chaos of our universe. And later, through processes of Darwinian Natural Selection (survival of the fittest), humans evolved as the most intelligent of all known species. According to Eastern philosophy, it was the ultimate Reason (Ahura Mazda) that gave birth to matter in the universe. Just like a bolt of lightening, reason struck and matter started forming. Physics is of the opinion that matter and energy(reason) are essentially the same thing (duality of light, electrons, etc). None of this still explains why certain random, totally clueless bits of tiny matter started to self-organize and form into shapes and bits of larger matter and reproduce and decide what to do for itself. Darwin's theory is only applicable to organisms that are complicated enough to replicate, but it doesn't explain the early stages of the origin of life. Well, if and when we finally understand how simple lifeless matter turns into not-so-simple matter that is alive, would we be able to design something similar and breathe life into it? No matter how we approach this subject, we get stuck in the loop and can't break out of it. It is possible that we are not capable of finding the answer due to the computational limitations of our brain power. Can we hope to find the answer once the technology surpasses our thought-processing limitations? Or are we faced with a flawed argument, like a Zen riddle which originally implies that there is no solution... Whatever the case may be, I see Artificial Intelligence as a tool for building world models and better understanding who we are.