^TagChristianity

Stained glass collage of stores from the Bible

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
September 17, 2023

Categorized
Transhumanism

Tagged
AI, Catholicism, Christianity, First Things, Medievalism, science, transhumanism, Vox, Wesley J. Smith}

AI as Refashioned Religion

_{How AI fits into the transhumanist utopian dream, and where that dream might have come from} _{Peter Biles

September 17, 2023

3

Transhumanism}

You can see it in the discourse surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) over the last year: AI is going to change everything. Some think it’s going to do this for the better. Others think it’s a technological handmaiden for world destruction if its programming goes awry — or worse: AI becomes self-determining and sentient. An insightful article at Vox by Sigal Samuel considers this doomsday/salvific kind of rhetoric and points out that AI developers sound a whole lot like religious priests, prophesying doom, promising salvation, warning the populace to heed the coming armageddon. He writes, These technologists propose cheating death by uploading our minds to the cloud, where we can live digitally for all eternity. They talk about AI as a Read More ›

Real robot's hand with ancient Bible. Concepts of artificial intelligence development and machine learning

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
August 30, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Religion

Tagged
AI, BibleGPT, ChatGPT, Christianity, Church, Large Language Models (LLMs), Pastors, religion}

“Bible GPT” For All Your Big Religious Questions

_{Is it a tool or a big crossing of the line?} _{Peter Biles

August 30, 2023

2

Artificial Intelligence, Religion}

It’s not only Silicon Valley and other tech giants like Microsoft and Google who have scrambled, over the last ten months or so, to integrate Large Language Models (LLMs) into their respective spheres. Churches are apparently getting in on the ground floor, too. A new software called “Bible GPT,” a clear riff off of “ChatGPT,” has officially been released into the world. According to the website, Bible GPT is an AI enabled religious software to write Christian texts, essays, or personalized poetry. It also answers bible related questions. Bible GPT is the biggest step in AI technology, taking the Christian world by storm. It offers insights into what many Christians wish to know and clarity by answering their religious questions. Read More ›

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post

Author
News
Date
August 2, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, C.S. Lewis, Christianity, god, Jesus Revolution, Mere Christianity (book), Pirate's Cove, Revival, Robert J. Marks, social media, TikTok}

Running from TikTok to Baptism and Truth

_{AI-powered social media is hurting kids, but look at the simultaneous revival happening, writes Robert J. Marks} _{News

August 2, 2023

2

Artificial Intelligence}

“Digital fentanyl.” That’s the evocative term U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc. used to describe TikTok. In Robert J. Marks’ new Newsmax article, he decries the tragic effects of social media on teens. The data is in: social media makes kids depressed. Marks writes, Media-drenched teenage boys without girlfriends feel like social freaks. One in three teenage girls who use social have body image issues.Young adults who use social media are three times as likely to suffer from depression. Depression can lead to suicide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, female suicides aged 15-24 increased by 87 percent over the past 20 years and male suicides increased by 30 percent. The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry says suicide is now the second leading Read More ›

The beam of light in the path of the magic forest

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
May 28, 2023

Categorized
Philosophy, Religion

Tagged
AI, Christianity, Enlightenment, Harry Potter, Magic, Materialism, Morality, Occult, Peter Biles, rationality, religion, The New Atlantis, transhumanism}

The Rational Magicians

_{Can real meaning be experienced in a godless world? The postrationalists are trying} _{Peter Biles

May 28, 2023

4

Philosophy, Religion}

In the era of scientific enlightenment, progress, and technological sophistication, “magic” might be the last word one might use to describe the activity of modern Western culture. We live in an age of reason, not superstition. Right? The old world of myth, mystery, and religion is holed away in museums and cathedrals; these are relics of an admirable but outdated generation. After Reason In a fascinating new article from The New Atlantis, writer Tara Isabella Burton writes about the “postrationalists,” an Internet subculture disillusioned with the technocratic rationalism of Silicon Valley and in search of a sense of the mystical and divine. “Reason,” or the modern conception of it, has left the postrationalists disappointed. Neither, however, are they flocking to Read More ›

A room with round glass window overlooking beautiful landscape background . Hotel futuristic showroom with modern interior . Sublime Generative AI image .

^{Type
post

Author
Wesley J. Smith
Date
April 10, 2023

Categorized
Transhumanism

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence, Atheism, Christianity, Easter, Eastern Orthodox, Materialism, Nihilism, religion, Technology, transhumanism, Wesley J. Smith, Wesley J. Smith on transhumanism}

Transhumanism’s Vain Search for Immortality

_{Transhumanism promotes its own defeat-of-death eschatology} _{Wesley J. Smith

April 10, 2023

2

Transhumanism}

April 9th was Easter Sunday for the Western churches. Next Sunday, for Eastern Orthodox churches. For believing Christians, whether Eastern or Western, celebrating Christ’s Resurrection joyfully commemorates the permanent defeat of death and entrance into eternal life. Transhumanism, which is a quasi-religion that worships at the altar of technology, promotes its own defeat-of-death eschatology. Instead of the New Jerusalem for which Christians yearn, transhumanists hope to live indefinitely — if not forever — in the corporeal world through the wonders of AI and other human-invented methods of technologically defeating death. And it could be here by 2050! From the Daily Mail story: Despite the setback, that same year, a prominent futurist predicted that ‘electronic immortality’ would be available to humans by 2050. Dr Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
September 16, 2022

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Human exceptionalism

Tagged
Animal rights, Christianity, Creativity, Dean Koontz, Dogs, Human exceptionalism, Human rights, transhumanism, Wesley J. Smith, Wesley J. Smith on transhumanism}

Human Exceptionalism is a Central Theme for Novelist Dean Koontz

_{Bestselling author Dean Koontz talks fiction, human exceptionalism, and transhumanism with Wesley J. Smith in new podcast episode (Part II)} _{Peter Biles

September 16, 2022

6

Arts & Culture, Human exceptionalism}

In Part I of this two-part series, we looked at Dean Koontz’s remarks on the purpose of art and the unique role of the novelist in today’s “everything is political” environment. But that’s not all he and Smith discussed on the Humanize Podcast on September 12th. Both had a lot to say about human exceptionalism, authoritarianism, and also…dogs! Koontz spoke about his love for the pups at the end of the episode, but first, discussed how the “animal rights” movement has gone wrong, and how a materialistic worldview can lead to despair. Smith commented how human exceptionalism is a central theme in Koontz’s novels and asked the reason, to which Koontz responded, “There’s no civilization if we don’t recognize Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
December 6, 2020

Categorized
Religion, Technocracy

Tagged
Bible (rewritten in China), Census, China, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Christianity, Church of Almighty God, Falun Gong, Featured, Jesus, Massimo Introvigne, Rian Thum, Tibet, Xi Jinping}

China’s Door-to-Door Census Now Identifies Religious Believers

_{Census takers are urged to keep their eyes open for evidence of religious activity} _{Heather Zeiger

December 6, 2020

7

Religion, Technocracy}

China will complete its seventh census, begun on November 1, on December 10. New features that have prompted concern include: Residents must indicate whether they have family members in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan or if they have any family members outside of the country and those who are over sixty must indicate their state of health (Reuters, November 2, 2020). Some have resisted answering census takers’ questions for fear of losing rights and privileges under the new Social Credit System. But more than that, some seven million census takers go door-to-door, interviewing residents and entering information that goes directly to the government via mobile apps. Bitter Winter talked to several census takers who said they were instructed to pay Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
July 19, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Religion, Science

Tagged
___longform, 2084 (book), AI Church, Anthony Levandowski, Christianity, Featured, Homo Deus (book), John Lennox, Max Tegmark, Robert J. Marks, Yuval Noah Harari}

Can AI Replace the Need for Belief in God?

_{Oxford mathematician contends that science should increase our respect for what God has created and allowed us to do} _{News

July 19, 2020

13

Artificial Intelligence, Religion, Science}

John Lennox. author of 2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity (2020), is not only an Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University but also pastoral advisor to Green Templeton College at Oxford. In a podcast, “Does Revelation Talk About Artificial Intelligence?”, he discusses with Robert J. Marks, director of the Walter Bradley Institute, the title question: “Can AI replace the need for belief in God?” https://episodes.castos.com/mindmatters/Mind-Matters-091-John-Lennox.mp3 Selections from the transcript are provided below: (The complete downloadable transcript may be found following the Show Notes and Resources) Robert J. Marks (right): Let’s talk about the theological implications of AI. You have a reputation, not only as a mathematician, but a Christian apologist. And I wanted to go into some Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
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

Author
Mind Matters
Date
November 19, 2018

Categorized
Ethics, Machine Learning, Religion

Tagged
China, Christianity, Facial Recognition, Muslims}

Facial Recognition Aids Persecution of Chinese Christians, Muslims

_{Western companies still seek business ties with an increasingly authoritarian regime} _{Mind Matters

November 19, 2018

4

Ethics, Machine Learning, Religion}

The crackdown on religion is said to stem from Xi Jinping, who became President in 2012. After he got term limits removed in March 2018, some have begun to privately call him “Emperor Xi.”