A.I.

I reject philosophy, theology and even religion as appropriate lenses via which to understand correctly human existence and the world we live in.

I certainly acknowledge that philosophy, theology and religion provide insights into the human race – but then so do literature and the arts. Science and Mathematics provide major insights into the physical, chemical, biological aspects of our existence – how else would we be able to manipulate the physical world so successfully via various forms of engineering ?

In my considered view, however, History which provides the most appropriate of all human perspectives and paradigms via which to consider fundamental questions and answers. History embraces all disciplines of study ; it records and assesses human thinking and behaviour far more effectively than the speculations of philosophy and the uncertainties of theology. History transmits the sum of human experience to posterity – albeit through the optic of present day preoccupations.

History attests that we human beings never learn the most important lessons about our mindset.

Look at the state of the world today, then look at the historical record. Both tell us the same thing ; both demonstrate the same recurring failure of the human race.

Failure such as our incapacity to live harmoniously as civilised human beings – War persists. Material excess exists beside rampant poverty. Domination by oppressive religions, ranging from the conceptual and psychological violence of atheistical fanaticism to a violent and totalitarian interpretation of Islam. Such reality characterises our world.

And there is no resolution in sight ; history shows that a solution to these ills has yet to be found and implemented. Heaven-on-earth remains the pursuit of all belief systems, yet hell on earth is the actual experience of millons.

I cite all this as symptomatic of the fundamental problem, and I cite it also as overwhelming evidence corroborating the testimony of one of the great Hebrew rulers, philosophers and prophets – King Solomon.

The western world today rejects out of hand the very ancient wisdom which alone can respond appropriately to human need. That ancient wisdom can enable us both to see and to diagnose the actual, fundamental issues. I want to mention in support of my contention a particular piece of ancient insight.

Four centuries before the existence of Thales, the first ancient Greek philosopher, Solomon stated:

« What has been, is what shall be ; what has been done, is what shall be done : there is nothing new under the sun »

But there is one development in the 21st century which appears to disprove Solomons assertion.

There is something unprecedented. It is called Artificial Intelligence – AI or A.I.

We now have a technology with the potential to replicate itself and to rival humans for control of this world. Both the principle and the practice of such a technology are new ; the consequent moral and political challenges are immense: they remain unresolved. There is now a rival to human control of our destiny and our world. A technology which can ‘reason’ for itself and develop itself without further human input or help. A technology which can indeed compete with us, and overwhelm us because of its superior capacities.

So there is something new under the sun, after all. Ergo the wisdom of Solomon is – finally – disproven. By implication, we can therefore dispose of all wisdom from the past without fear of loss. Case proved. We now have definitive human created evidence of a fundamental fault in ancient wisdom. We have demonstrated the superiority of human wisdom over mere primitive superstition dressed up as divine guidance.

But what is the context of this apparently unprecedented development – this man inspired monster called AI ? The context is a world in which human beings strive to outdo and overcome each other for pure self advantage. It is a world without reference to our Maker. It is a world made in the image of sinful, Fallen human beings. It is a godless world with increasingly mechanistic and materialistic measures, methods and mentality. It is a world made in our own human image – an image which precisely corroborates the Christian contention of the Fall of Man from the place of relationship with God, known traditionally as The Fall from Grace.

The context for Solomon’s wisdom stands in stark contrast. Solomons wisdom is directly derived from God our Maker. Solomons wisdom is the result of communication between the prophet and his Maker in the place of prayer. Solomons wisdom is the gift of God our Maker to a servant with the humility to recognise his own limitations for ruling God’s people ; a servant conscious that God alone can provide both the wisdom and the wherewithal for success in managing the needs of an entire nation.

Solomons wisdom is derived from a perspective which recognises that we are created and entirely dependent on our Creator. That perspective is not only understood intellectually – critically it is also acted on in the firm conviction and belief that it has a true capacity for real and beneficial outcomes. As such it stands in marked contrast to the arrogance and self sufficiency of western humanity today.

Today western arrogance assumes that we are ourselves god. There is therefore no GOD to account to, or obey, or upon whom we depend for every single breath we breathe. On the contrary, we can solve all our problems with our expertise, our communications, our technology, our vaccines … Incidentally, whence came our insight into the process of vaccination ? It came from the observance of a natural phenomenon within God’s created order – as do all forms of modern medicine. Like so much in the human engineering of natural science, this is in fact no more than human ex-propriation of naturally occurring phenomena.

This desperate independence and refusal to recognise our need of, and our ultimate relationship to, our Creator and Judge has led us to try to create alternatives in order to bypass our actual need of, and dependence on, God.

In our sinful rebellion and separation from God, we act in foolish isolation from the spiritual reality – indeed we refuse to recognise the all powerful dimension of the spiritual. We therefore resort to our own type of ‘wisdom’ – a wisdom devoid of God and devoid therefore of ultimate reality and truth.

Denying ultimate reality, we deny God and we act in total self reliance and understanding. We believe and we have faith in the idea that we ourselves can solve our problems. From this moral and intellectual ignorance, we have created an unprecedented threat to our identity and to our existence.

We delude ourselves that this AI Monster made in our own image can solve so many previously unresolved problems. You can hear the hype and hope of the slick salesman whenever academics and western politicians mention the hallowed development of Artificial Intelligence. This is no more than a Blind Faith in deluded mankinds own limited intellectual capacities.

We refuse to recognise that our capacities are merely the tools of hearts and minds lost to a self delusion which refuses Gods superior wisdom. All because we have convinced ourselves that God does not exist. We believe in a lie, and those who believe lies delude themselves : they fail to face up to the full reality in which they really are – until reality impinges. When it does, they are completely lost and nonplussed.

We have exalted ourselves to the place of God. We have behaved like God in creating Artificial Intelligence ; in so doing we have applied our own limited understanding with its false and narrow lens of the merely Material and Rational ; we are therefore completely clueless as to how to handle the consequences. We are caught within our self oriented and self promoting ambition for ‘progress’ : we exercise faith in the erroneous belief that we are capable of regulating and improving our world ; a faith in intellectual power – a faith which owes nothing to either wisdom or experience. Even as we strive to exercise this faith in MAN, our innate sense of caution nags at us that something is not right here – that perhaps we should suspend all activity on this and determine our Moral Code before proceeding. See Oxfords 2024 Romanes lecture !

Human experience about the application of scientific ‘advance’ tells us that we fail repeatedly to learn from bad experience and to change our approach and attitude. Our impulse to be foolish is greater than our innate sense of caution. This reality about human reactions corroborates the Christian diagnosis that we are rebels against God and delude ourselves about our own best interests.

We will inevitably choose our own Moral Code over and against God’s moral code : God demands that we obey what God says, not what we want. In fact, when we defy God, we corroborate the Biblical ‘fable’ of the Fall …

And we are about to fail dramatically. Human generated AI is a monster which now threatens to overwhelm us. And we have done so because we are seeking to avoid God, God’s wisdom and God’s very real ability to meet all our needs.

But the monster we have created is not an innovation previously unknown. It is not really something ‘new under the sun’.

Why ?

Because God did it before us ; God created human beings. God created us in God’s image.

There is, however, a serious difference between God and humans when it comes to how we handle AI.

When the human creature showed signs of foolish independence, God took the necessary corrective steps. God banned humanity from the place of eternal life and blessing. He banned us from polluting perfection. He judged our stupidity by circumscribing and constraining it.

Will we do the same with the digital danger of AI ? Do we have the foresight and the courage to take such a dramatic step ? Can we say NO and stop AI before it gets out of hand ? Will we isolate AI and keep it well and truly in its place ?

The historical record of human decision making says that we will not. We will fail. All the assertions contained within the ancient wisdom of the Hebrew writings in the Bible suggest that we will again do what we always do : arrogantly assume we are right ; arrogantly persist in our foolishness.

We will therefore pay the price for heeding our own wisdom and refusing the eternal, spiritual wisdom of the one true God our Maker in the divinely preserved writings we know as the Bible.

We are facing historic, unprecedented disaster for one simple reason. We allow our own ambitions and arrogance to over-ride any sense of our moral obligations and any recognition of our true needs. Those needs are spiritual and so inexplicable in our own, limited and perverse human terms.

We will persist and we will insist that all this constitutes ‘Progress’ – that irrational, insistent Idol of the fanatical Atheist. We will insist that the monster is in fact a means to our salvation, and not our destruction. We will do exactly what we do with God. Turn reality upside down and on its head. We will see hope in the delusion and disaster. But the disaster will – yes WILL – dispel the delusion as certainly as night follows day…

‘FOOL’ is the Bible word for all those who refuse to recognise and act according to the reality that God exists and judges us.

And some of the biggest fools worship in the Temples of Fallen human wisdom which we call universities.