_{Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis}

^CategoryReligion

^{Type
post

Brendan Dixon
Date
December 11, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Religion

Tagged
Go (game), Lee Se-dol}

I Am Giving Up Cycling

_{It’s just not worth it if a machine can beat me} _{Brendan Dixon
December 11, 2019

3

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Religion}

It’s not that I cannot cycle or that I don’t like to or that I’m not good at it (for a human). But just the other day, as I pedaled along, I was passed by a motorcycle. Its speed was incredible! I appeared to be pedaling in place as the machine zoomed into the distance. In that moment, it became all too clear that my days as a meaningful human were ending. The machine was my better. Okay. That is not true. I am not going to quit cycling. And, being passed by a motorcycle—a machine we built purposely to go faster than anything our two legs can achieve—is not a meaningful measure of my prowess as a cyclist. Many Read More ›

^{Type
post

News
Date
December 8, 2019

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind, Religion

Tagged
Bible, Near-death experiences, Paul the Apostle, Robert J. Marks, Walter Bradley}

Does the Bible Talk About Near-Death Experiences?

_{Walter Bradley points to an incident in the life of the apostle Paul in the New Testament that sounds like a near-death experience} _{News
December 8, 2019

4

Philosophy of Mind, Religion}

Paul's remarkable vision, described in 2 Corinthians 12:2, could well have been a near-death experience. He was once stoned and assumed to be dead, his body abandoned outside city walls. But he revived.

^{Type
post

News
Date
November 29, 2019

Categorized
Global Technology, Religion, Surveillance, Technocracy

Tagged
___longform, China, Hong Kong, Hong Kong protests 2019}

How Tech Savvy Helps Hong Kong Hold Off China

_{Several other factors help, including spirituality and a sense of unique identity as Hongkongers} _{News
November 29, 2019

7

Global Technology, Religion, Surveillance, Technocracy}

The stakes are high. Hongkongers have been energized by the dramatic recent win for democracy at the polls. But so have the police.

^{Type
post

News
Date
November 28, 2019

Categorized
Religion, Work

Tagged
Archeology}

Does AI Challenge Biblical Archeology?

_{Many surviving documents are so damaged that they cannot be read using traditional methods.} _{News
November 28, 2019

3

Religion, Work}

The more scrolls are deciphered using new AI methods, the more archeologists will have to study and write about.

^{Type
post

News
Date
November 19, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind, Religion, Transhumanism

Tagged
___longform, Featured, Michael Graziano, Ray Kurzweil, Silicon Valley, transhumanism}

Transhumanism—Is It a Dangerous Idea?

_{Some Silicon Valley greats hope to merge with machines to live forever. But what then?} _{News
November 19, 2019

7

Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind, Religion, Transhumanism}

The late philosopher Jerry Fodor (1935—2017) said that the reason “we’re all materialists” is that the alternatives seem even worse. Transhumanism, had he lived to see it develop, would give him pause for further reflection.

^{Type
post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
November 6, 2019

Categorized
Natural Intelligence, Religion

Tagged
Plants, Suzanne Simard, Trees}

New Research Suggests That Plants Can “Think”

_{But what does that mean? Clearly not what some people expect} _{Denyse O'Leary
November 6, 2019

6

Natural Intelligence, Religion}

From time immemorial, we have endowed what we find in nature with our own characteristics. That is called mythology. The people who think that salad is murder or beg plants to forgive their sins are not helping the environment; they are incorporating a mythology into their lives

^{Type
post

News
Date
November 6, 2019

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind, Religion, Technocracy

Tagged
___longform, Digital Immortality, Featured, immortality, John Lennox, Ray Kurzweil, Robert J. Marks, transhumanism}

But Could Techno-Immortality Ever Be the Real Thing?

_{Oxford mathematician John Lennox looks at Ray Kurzweil’s techno-immortality from a Christian perspective} _{News
November 6, 2019

8

Philosophy of Mind, Religion, Technocracy}

In these excerpts from the podcast, Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks talks with John Lennox about an AI immortality where we are told, for example, that we won’t need tongues because we can tap right into our taste buds.

^{Type
post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 23, 2019

Categorized
Religion, Work

Tagged
Catholicism, COSM, education, George Gilder, Innovation, Job Displacement, Machines, Peter Thiel, Silicon Valley, University}

Tech Entrepreneur Peter Thiel says Silicon Valley is losing its touch

_{Peter Thiel also compared universities today to the Catholic Church at its worst} _{Denyse O'Leary
October 23, 2019

2

Religion, Work}

About the Big Tech companies, he says, “The story is not that they have done a lot of bad things but that they have not done enough good things. That remains the core challenge of Silicon Valley.”

^{Type
post

News
Date
September 30, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Religion

Tagged
Buddhism, Catholicism, Christianity, Japan, Mindar, Robots}

Are Robot Pastors the Answer to Religion’s Decline?

_{Many Christians say no. Some Buddhists say yes. What is expected of the pastor?} _{News
September 30, 2019

5

Artificial Intelligence, Religion}

Perhaps it comes down to what we believe is the ultimate reality and what we expect from that ultimate reality. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Eric Holloway
Date
September 26, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Religion}

“Friendly” Artificial Intelligence Would Kill Us

_{Is that a shocking idea? Let’s follow the logic} _{Eric Holloway
September 26, 2019

6

Artificial Intelligence, Religion}

We 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!

^{Type
post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
September 10, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Religion

Tagged
Singularity}

Do Churches Need a Catechism for Robots?

_{Are the claims about spiritual robots just an intellectual cottage industry for edgy clergy?} _{Denyse O'Leary
September 10, 2019

5

Artificial Intelligence, Religion}

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 ›

Hands in dark using smartphone

^{Type
post

News
Date
September 1, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Philosophy of Mind, Religion

Tagged
Danielle (novel), Ray Kurzweil, Singularity}

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 computers} _{News
September 1, 2019

7

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Philosophy of Mind, Religion}

He 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.

^{Type
post

Denyse O'Leary
Date
August 14, 2019

Categorized
Business and Finance, Religion, Technocracy, Work

Tagged
Google, Politics, Project Veritas}

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 DOJ} _{Denyse O'Leary
August 14, 2019

10

Business and Finance, Religion, Technocracy, Work}

While 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.

^{Type
post

Heather Zeiger
Date
July 23, 2019

Categorized
Religion, Social Media, Technocracy

Tagged
China, Featured, Surveillance, Uyghurs}

The Internet Doesn’t Free Anyone by Itself

_{China is testing 100% surveillance on the Uighurs, a strategically critical minority} _{Heather Zeiger
July 23, 2019

7

Religion, Social Media, Technocracy}

The 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 ›

^{Type
post

News
Date
July 15, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Religion

Tagged
Climate change, Eric Holloway, Featured, James Lovelock, Superintelligence}

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 change} _{News
July 15, 2019

6

Artificial Intelligence, Religion}

James 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 ›

^{Type
post

News
Date
July 10, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind, Religion

Tagged
Brendan Dixon, Computer sims, Featured, Fine-tuning, Jonathan Bartlett, Robert J. Marks, Universe}

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 credible} _{News
July 10, 2019

6

Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind, Religion}

The 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.

^{Type
post

Eric Holloway
Date
June 23, 2019

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind, Religion

Tagged
immortality}

A Really Long Time Is Not Forever

_{No matter how our lives are prolonged, there is a hard stop to our universe} _{Eric Holloway
June 23, 2019

5

Philosophy of Mind, Religion}

If 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.

Silhouette of a man against a dark, cloudy sky

^{Type
post

News
Date
June 16, 2019

Categorized
Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind, Religion

Tagged
Anxiety, Depression, Finding Quiet (book), J. P. Moreland, Mike Keas}

Theologian, Battling Depression, Reaffirms the Existence of the Soul

_{J. P. Moreland reasons his way to the evidence and captures his discoveries in a book} _{News
June 16, 2019

4

Medicine and Health, Philosophy of Mind, Religion}

It’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.

Strange ocular looking shape descending

^{Type
post

News
Date
June 9, 2019

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Religion, Social Factors

Tagged
AI religion, Extraterrestrials (ET), god, religion}

Will Space Aliens Become a New Majority Religion?

_{Nearly as many young Americans believe in ET as in God, says religion prof} _{News
June 9, 2019

4

Artificial Intelligence, Religion, Social Factors}

Popular culture is looking for high-tech ETs to be its saviors and Silicon Valley aspires to become those ETs. What could possibly go wrong?