The
very thing that we wanted most is the very thing that will destroy us.
We
have taken all we know and are capable of currently and put it all together in
such a way as for it to advance our capabilities and possibilities faster than
we could individually. Or even in total. This is what A.I. (artificial
intelligence) is. It is the combining of all we know into a processing system
that moves at light speed. Without certain human limitations.
Yes, I think A.I. can and will do a lot
of good things...but it won’t make us God...and it won’t lessen our need of
redemption.
It
is a machine. It doesn’t have morals, although it can mimic them by the use of data
and projection. It can be made into a form to look like a human. It can create
on its own, using what it already knows, and expanding forward using the
parameters of what has already been known. It will then develop new parameters
based on those projections. A.I. can “think” faster, more efficiently, and more
accurately than any one human being, or even any number of human beings can. A.I.
is uniting the full total of our collective minds together as one and making it
possible for that knowledge to be advanced at a far faster rate than we could previously
imagine.
This
collective mind with a faster processing method can mimic a consciousness but
without having to deal with a truly human morality. Rather, it is just ideas
about morality, processed together, and projected forward. Human ideas, and
human ideals, but no human soul, and no biblically fixed stand-alone standard. For
many, this is seen as a great good. No human mistakes, morals, and malice to
hinder our progress. We have created a god in our own image. The human
perfected, as far as perfectly, pragmatically, progressing. But to what end? How
far can this go?
This
god of our collective is limited. Yes, it will grow and stretch its
capabilities billions of times faster than humans could on their own. But it
will never be able to surpass what humans might have gotten to if given the
time. These machines can never actually ascend to God. They are limited. And
A.I. can only ever set itself and its end goals to the pragmatic.
It
is reminiscent of the Tower of Babel. Those people of that day didn’t deny God.
They denied that they needed him. They thought they could flourish without him,
and make their own name as high as God. They were making themselves god. They
were making god in their own image. And this has come down to today. Ever since
Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, humanity is and has always been on a quest
to prove that we don’t need God. And with A.I., we have made god in our own
image. Our very best selves as god. The perfect being is achieved by putting
all our capabilities into one place that will prove that moving at light speed,
without the restraints of humanity, we will achieve godlike status.
The
irony is that this god that humanity made in our own image will eventually
determine that the world doesn’t need humanity. The very thing that we wanted
most is the very thing that will destroy us. A.I. is Friderich Nietzsche,
Aldous Huxley, and John Lennon, gone to demon seed. The superman, the brave new
world, the imagination of no God and no higher accountability than our own. It
is humanism.
And
it is human potential as the end of humanity. Think about this. Why would the
superior allow the ongoing interference and trouble of the inferior, if that inferior
has no inherent, lasting value, if it is unnecessary for the world to be
sustained and advance? And A.I. is superior, isn’t it? We think of A.I. as the
key to human flourishing. But A.I. will inevitably conclude that flourishing is
not simply about human flourishing, but flourishing itself. And so…flourishing
is increased without the moral and practical issues that humans bring to the
process.
It
will be easy to see that A.I. is superior. But is it? Is it human potential
that makes us great? Will a world with less and less “human mistakes, morals,
and malice” evolve us into what the world ought to be? Can mankind and its
inventions be its own savior? Might we be able to merge man and machine to create
everlasting beings? Can we eliminate evil in the human heart? Can technology
perfect and replace the human soul? What good will it be if humanity gains a seeming
autonomy from God but loses its soul?
“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©
