Yeah, counsciousness and a certain degree of free will are definately phenomena that exist on a gradual scale, rather than an all or nothing base. But i think, talking of mythology and folkore, that this "fruit of knowledge" tale is more an expression of how we look at ourselves. The burden of counsciousness and free will.

If the word "sin" has to make any sense at all, it cannot exist without a certain degree of self awareness and free will. So in that mythological story, the mother of all sins, was to gain the power to be able to make choices.

But it is questionable if in that adam and eve story, "sin" is realy to be seen as wrongdoing.

Many, but not all christians see it that way, and most religious jews interpret this original sin not so much as an evil, but more as human fallibility.

In greek, i believe the word sin also means "missing the mark" instead of a deliberate act of evil.

I think that is also a dangerous misunderstanding about AI btw: if a system, whether biological or electronic is truly intelligent, sentient, or whatever you want to call it, it must be fallable as well. If we'd ever build something that is as smart as a human, it will make mistakes like a human as well. And it will have to be totally unique mistakes that we cannot ever completely predict.

And AI is going to be used in weaponry someday. One moment a man and a women decide to eat an apple, a few thousand generations later their offspring is building a doomsday machine.