CategoryReligion
“Friendly” Artificial Intelligence Would Kill Us
Is that a shocking idea? Let’s follow the logicWe don't want to invent a stupid god who accidentally turns the universe into grey goo or paperclips, But any god we create in our image will be just as incompetent and evil as we are, if not more so. A dilemma!
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Do Churches Need a Catechism for Robots?
Are the claims about spiritual robots just an intellectual cottage industry for edgy clergy?Some people have taken Pope Francis’s musings in recent years to mean pretty much whatever they want them to mean. For example, But Francis’s wide arms have arguably never stretched further than a mass in 2014 when he suggested the church would baptize Martians. “If—for example—tomorrow an expedition of Martians came … and one says, ‘But I want to be baptized!’ What would happen?” Pope Francis asked. “When the Lord shows us the way, who are we to say, ‘No, Lord, it is not prudent! No, let’s do it this way.’” Jonathan Merritt, “Is AI a Threat to Christianity?” at The Atlantic (February 3, 2017) Merritt promptly converts the hypothetical question—which depends, of course, on the assumption that Martians are Read More ›
Will we become mere apps of our smart machines?
At COSM, Ray Kurzweil will offer a glimpse of his foreseen Singularity where we merge with superintelligent computersHe believes that the merger will eventually make the whole universe intelligent. Kurzweil’s critics believe that the superintelligent computers he needs can’t exist. If the critics are correct, we have misread the AI revolution.
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Is Google a Cult? Or Does It Just Act That Way?
Project Veritas announces that a new rebel Googler has sent nearly 1000 documents on algorithm bias to the DOJWhile we prepare a news story on Zach Vorhies' revelations, it may be worth asking why one of the world’s largest companies has developed what appears to be the atmosphere of a political cult.
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The Internet Doesn’t Free Anyone by Itself
China is testing 100% surveillance on the Uighurs, a strategically critical minorityThe Uyghur people in Xinjiang province in northwest China spend their lives in a digital panopticon. Over 2.5 million Muslims are tracked via facial recognition software and cameras, and their cell phone monitored for any language that could be construed as religious. Over a million have been placed in so-called “vocational training centers” that are widely described as detention camps. Even when not detained, they live like prisoners: For Uyghurs in Xinjiang, any kind of contact from a non-Chinese phone number, though not officially illegal, can result in instant arrest. Most Uyghurs in Turkey have been deleted by their families on social media. And many wouldn’t dare try to make contact, for fear Chinese authorities would punish their relatives. Isobel Read More ›
Our AI Overlords Will Save Earth, Says Prominent Scientist
AlphaGo, the Go-playing computer program, is the start of telepathic superintelligences that will tackle climate changeJames Lovelock, both distinguished scientist and founder of the Gaia concept of Earth, need only live to July 26 to be a centenarian. In his new book, co-authored with Bryan Appleyard, he sees the Go-playing computer program AlphaGo as the start of a new type of life that will save the planet, as he told New Scientist recently: Specifically, about the new AI overlords: In his new book Novacene, James Lovelock says the creation of AlphaGo was the start of a new kingdom of life that will create and think for itself. He’s optimistic that this new kingdom of life will want to keep us around like we keep plants in gardens. “James Lovelock says artificial intelligence is the start Read More ›
How Do We Know Our Universe Is Not a Sim World?
It’s an interesting idea, say Bradley fellows, but for a number of reasons, it is not credibleThe computer sim universe seems to be a way of dealing with the massive evidence of the fine-tuning of our universe without invoking traditional philosophy or religion.
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True Believer Loses Faith in Fully Self-Driving Cars
Levandowski sees the future—and it is tech aids for safer drivingFully autonomous vehicles—aka self-driving cars—are a techno-utopian fantasy that stands little to no chance of realization in the coming decades. The industry is slowly starting to separate that fantasy from achievable reality.
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A Really Long Time Is Not Forever
No matter how our lives are prolonged, there is a hard stop to our universeIf eternity is what we truly want, then we should not let ourselves become distracted by technolongevity, and instead, seek our true heart's desire, and find out for ourselves if it is a sham or a reality.
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Theologian, Battling Depression, Reaffirms the Existence of the Soul
J. P. Moreland reasons his way to the evidence and captures his discoveries in a bookIt’s not often that a theologian admits to personal issues like anxiety and depression. But Biola University’s Moreland has written a book about how he coped by learning more about the nature of our immaterial minds.
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Will Space Aliens Become a New Majority Religion?
Nearly as many young Americans believe in ET as in God, says religion profPopular culture is looking for high-tech ETs to be its saviors and Silicon Valley aspires to become those ETs. What could possibly go wrong?
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Silicon Valley’s Strange, Apocalyptic Cult
Key Valley figures hope to beat death the transhumanist way. Oh, by the way, YOU are doomedEverything has a history, including Silicon Valley. According to a new media theorist, an influential Valley philosophy might underlie the current attitudes, values, and beliefs: There is a Silicon Valley religion, and it’s one that doesn’t particularly care for people — at least not in our present form. Technologists may pretend to be led by a utilitarian, computational logic devoid of superstition, but make no mistake: There is a prophetic belief system embedded in the technologies and business plans coming out of Google, Uber, Facebook, and Amazon, among others. Douglas Rushkoff, “The Anti-Human Religion of Silicon Valley” at Medium In an excerpt from his new book, Team Human (2019), Rushkoff traces the history to a post-Cold War collaboration centered on Read More ›
Can AI make us better human beings?
Helping us believe that is a promising new business area for someTo the extent that compassion is a moral choice (that is, not just a manipulation), a key issue is that there is no universal moral machine.
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New Evangelical Statement on AI is Balanced and Well-Informed
The signers are clearly (and rightly) skeptical that computers can become conscious moral agentsToo much of the debate over AI is dictated by prior metaphysical commitments that are rarely examined. This Evangelical Statement is a welcome contrast because it makes the theological issues explicit.
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Transhumanism, the Lazy Way to Human ‘Improvement’
Transhumanists don’t seem much interested in such real improvements in the human condition. They want quick, easy technological fixesThe transhumanist movement swoons over increasing intelligence. If I had to choose between increasing the intelligence of the human race versus enhancing our capacity to love, the human race would be far better off embracing the latter than the former. There is no brain implant for that.
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Why Are Robots Part of Religion in Japan?
Declining population is only one factor. Ancient cultural beliefs are another.
A Mind Matters Review: Travelers Portrays AI As A Benevolent God
AI can even heal miraculously, but there is a price to be paid…Season 3 seems like a good time to weigh in on the show’s overall audience appeal, level of materialist dogmatism, and vision of the future of AI.
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The Idol with Feet of Silicon
Religions based on artificial intelligence (AI) cannot transcend the limits of computersThose proclaiming that exclusive truth lives totally in naturalism are constrained to a sadly narrow view of the world. Some naturalists have put their faith in AI and have founded the AI Church. They may think they are doing something new and cutting edge, but as Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, there is nothing new under the sun (1:9).
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Tales of an Invented God
The most important characteristic of an AI cult is that its gods (Godbots?) will be created by the AI developers and not the other way aroundA book on the new pop science religion might well be titled “Tales of the Invented God.” Its author would likely be challenged to keep up with all the non-events breathlessly documented. After all, the technocrats who invent their future gods can change, re-envision, replace, upgrade, eliminate them at any time.
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