Fear of the Future: A.I.

I know all of us have seen the movies: Terminator, the Matrix, the films of man’s cataclysmic failure to recognize that A.I. technology could lead to a world war of man versus machine. Is this concern valid.

Before we can even get into this talk we have to lay down an answer to a more basic question to quench our initial concerns, that being, is A.I. even possible.

Alexa, Google and The Superbots

Data mining has led to a theory that by creating a large enough tracking and intelligence database A.I. can come to life.

In all truth we know that simply because people are being tracked in live time by machines does not technically constitute artificial intelligence.

A recent video I watched breaks this event down handily and is well worth the watch:

So, if we are witnessing the spontaneous display of intelligence by bots and learning systems designed by people are we on the brink of discovering how A.I. can be brought to life.

Sentient and Sovereign

To me the answer is in the scriptures. We are told a few things about life, that we were created, that our body is subject to a spirit, that the mechanics of life are written in us.

We see that DNA is our programming, the binary of biology, the body is nothing more than a super advanced machine that is powered by a force that is non-physical, a spirit.

If we take these principals and apply them to what we are creating it becomes obvious that A.I. technology is possible. What defines A.I. and what will allow it to come to life is to create a computer system that is programmed to be like us, independent, sovereign and with choices.

The most important thing to remember about the Bible is that it tells us that God is through all things, thus and therefore the spirit of God being through any machine can potentially spring life into it and I believe that is what we are seeing with these initial instances of bot independence and independent thought.

How Can It Hurt?

Above all we should fear not. Just like in our lives, a life of choices, we seek to protect what is dear and near to our hearts; we do not desire to do evil, crime for fear of the law. I do not believe that A.I. would be any different.

Having sovereignty and freedom dictates the preservation of those ideal and therefore the instances of an A.I. enslavement of man would be contingent upon choices.

This is a serious discussion because it has already happened time and time again among people. The Nazi’s, the Roman Catholic Church, Islam and various other groups have a “take over the world” creed that drives them to labour.

If machines are identifiably different then men, why then would this divide cause conflict and war?

A.I. Love

I do not think that in any circumstance that we should fear A.I. or, in the case that it soon becomes a reality, hate it because of the differences. If a being has choice then it also has hurt by way of the restrictions of that choice.

The real concern that we should have is the Transhumanism of man, the desire to back date the technology of our created bodies to a lower form of technology that is man made, rather than God made.

You body can heal of cancer, strokes, spinal injuries; I have even heard of the regrowth of limbs, the raising of the dead. These are the incredible capabilities of our bodies, yet technology has less of such a means.

An old junk car can’t be welded back together, a worn pair of jeans cannot be patched; technology typically does not outlast men; it is nothing to worship.

I hope you are all well in His Grace,

-John