^Tagreligion

Silhouettes of people observing stars in night sky. Astronomy concept.

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
September 16, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence (AI), C.S. Lewis, Computers, Eric Hedin, god, religion, spiritual longing, transcendence}

Another Non-Computable Trait: Spiritual Longing

_{You can't program spiritual longing into a computer, not matter how savvy the algorithm.} _{Peter Biles

September 16, 2023

2

Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind}

What makes human beings unique, compared to say, a piece of granite? What distinguishes us from advanced artificial intelligence? Robert J. Marks has argued that several characteristics set us apart from the machines in his book Non-Computable You. This week, scientist Eric Hedin, citing from the classic thought of Anglo-Irish writer C.S. Lewis, adds another trait to the list: spiritual longing for something greater than the material. Hedin writes, If physical desires, such as hunger, rightly indicate that we were meant to be satisfied with food, then the longing for something that transcends even our most lavish experiences of abundance must also indicate an attainable fulfillment we have never yet tasted and without which we cannot be fully satisfied. Stated 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 ›

Aerial cityscape view of San Francisco and the Bay Bridge at Night

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
August 27, 2023

Categorized
Technology

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Athens, Faith, god, Jerusalem, Luke Birgis, reason, religion, science, Silicon Valley, soul, Wired}

Silicon Valley is All About Use, Not Truth

_{Of Athens, Jerusalem, and the "third city"} _{Peter Biles

August 27, 2023

3

Technology}

A new article from Wired by Luke Birgis discusses the mentality and culture of Silicon Valley, and puts the technological vision of life up alongside the classic dichotomy between “Athens” and “Jerusalem.” Athens was symbolic of reason, while Jerusalem indicated the spiritual life of the soul. Figuring out a way of connecting (or disconnecting) these two mythic kingdoms has long been the task of philosophers and theologians. Need religion be separated from reason? Are science and faith naturally incompatible? These are worthy questions in their own right. Birgis, however, identifies another burgeoning kingdom that is arguably reducing both Athens and Jerusalem to hypothetical rubble: Silicon Valley. The Valley’s core philosophy is neither reason or beauty, but value, or usefulness. Birgis Read More ›

Science and research of the universe, spiral galaxy and physical formulas, concept of knowledge and education

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
August 22, 2023

Categorized
Mathematics

Tagged
faith and religion, god, Intelligent design theory, Mathematics, Numbers, Physics, religion, science, science and faith}

From Physics to Faith?

_{A podcast episode looking at how physics points to more than meets the eye} _{News

August 22, 2023

2

Mathematics}

Do you recognize the number 1/137.035999206? It might seem arbitrary, but if the fine-structure constant were any higher or lower than it is, you might not exist! On this episode of ID the Future, host Brian Miller kicks off an engaging conversation with Rabbi Elie Feder and Rabbi Aaron Zimmer, hosts of the Physics to God podcast. Feder has a PhD in mathematics and has published articles on graph theory. Zimmer has training in physics, and has studied mathematics, philosophy, and psychology. Both men also have extensive rabbinical training. Through their podcast, Feder and Zimmer invite both secular and religious listeners on a journey through modern physics as they offer rational arguments for an intelligent cause of the universe. In Part 1 of Read More ›

Shelves with books in a bookstore. Education and development. Blurred. Horizontal photo. A great background for your design.

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
August 6, 2023

Categorized
Education

Tagged
academia, Arts and Culture, Conservativism, Culture, History, John Locke, Joseph Loconte, Liberalism, National Review, Politics, religion, The King's College, The Left, The West, Western literature}

Don’t Censor Western Books

_{For thousands of men and women, the Western canon served as a lifeline} _{Peter Biles

August 6, 2023

3

Education}

The King’s College, a longstanding evangelical Christian college in Manhattan’s financial district, announced financial shortcomings in February, and as of this month, canceled fall classes and laid off a majority of its faculty members. King’s is small, but its students have historically been driven, smart, and ambitious. With a goal of transmitting the spiritual riches of the Judeo-Christian tradition to the next generation, the college saw students go on to elite graduate schools and take influential roles in journalism, law, academia, and the arts. While the details of King’s seemingly ultimate demise is complicated, Joseph Loconte, a former history professor at King’s, writes that its death spiral is reflective of something deeper and endemic in the West. For so many Read More ›

Prison. Prison wall with barbed wire. Law and justice

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
July 22, 2023

Categorized
Economics

Tagged
Acton Institute, Christianity and Communism, Creativity, Determinism, Discovery Institute, free will, George Gilder, Life After Capitalism (book), Martin Luther King Jr, Materialism, Paul Tillich, religion, Samuel Gregg, Social Justice}

Martin Luther King Jr. on the Failures of Communism

_{The great advocate for justice saw, as George Gilder does, why materialism fails us} _{Peter Biles

July 22, 2023

3

Economics}

Technology futurist and economist George Gilder has a new book called Life After Capitalism. One of Gilder’s main points in the book is that knowledge is wealth; with increased human ingenuity comes advanced economic growth, but that’s all dependent on the recognition that mind, not matter, is preeminent, and is essential for the flourishing of society and culture. I’ve been reading some essays of the great social justice advocate Martin Luther King, Jr., and came across a piece he wrote on the failures of Communism as a worldview and political system. His comments sound remarkably akin to Gilder’s views on mind and materialism. Listing his first objection to Communism, King writes, First, Communism is based on a materialistic and humanistic Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
July 15, 2023

Tagged
Arts and Culture, ChatGPT, Elon Musk, Ethan Hunt, god, Government power, Mission Impossible, Movies and Film, OpenAI, religion, Tom Cruise, xAI}

Mission Impossible: A Dead Reckoning With Artificial Intelligence

_{The villain in the new blockbuster movie is an artificial intelligence known simply as "the entity."} _{Peter Biles

July 15, 2023

3}

I walked into the theater expecting a typical villain in the latest installment of Mission Impossible starring the inimitable Tom Cruise. And at the film’s beginning, you’re definitely led to believe that the pale, sour-faced Russians are behind yet another espionage program destined to thwart America and conquer the world. But that’s only a front. The real villain in the new blockbuster movie is an artificial intelligence known simply as “the entity.” The impossible mission, tasked to Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is to track down a mysterious key, made of two separate parts, that apparently can unlock the entity and reveal what it’s capable of. God in the Machine Hunt and his usual gang of expatriates find themselves at odds with Read More ›

industrial pollution at sunset with smokestacks emitting smoke. Generative AI

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
June 19, 2023

Categorized
Transhumanism

Tagged
AI, Consciousness, Culture, machine, Mary Harrington, Paul Kingsnorth, religion, The West, transhumanism, UnHerd, YouTube}

Two Writers on Transhumanist Trends

_{Paul Kingsnorth and Mary Harrington discuss the modern urge to throw off all natural limits} _{News

June 19, 2023

1

Transhumanism}

This is a conversation from a year ago but nevertheless remains radically pertinent today. Paul Kingsnorth and Mary Harrington, both who have written on various modern trends to try and transcend bodily limits, sat down on the Rebel Wisdom YouTube channel to have a chat. Both have written for the online magazine UnHerd, but up until this point, had never interacted with each other. Kingsnorth is a former environmentalist who became disillusioned with the movement and eventually converted to Orthodox Christianity. He is also a novelist and currently lives a simple life in Ireland. Harrington is a contributing editor of UnHerd and writes on feminism, politics, and other pressing cultural issues. Both believe that the urge to throw off human 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 ›

Young Caucasian male comedian performing his stand-up monologue on a stage of a small venue

^{Type
post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
May 12, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, chess, Comedy, David Gelernter, GPT-4, Hamlet, humor, mind, religion, Robert J. Marks, Shakespeare}

Funny ChatGPT: a Solution to Striking Joke Writers?

_{Even if ChatGPT can mimic humor, it doesn't care if you laugh at the jokes} _{Robert J. Marks

May 12, 2023

5

Artificial Intelligence}

Can ChatGPT write funny jokes? The answer is yes. To try and generate some short jokes, I went to ChatGPT and started all my queries with: “Complete the following to make it funny:” Doing so alerts ChatGPT about my end goal. Without this preamble, I could make queries all day and get no funny responses. I started with the beginnings of some well-known quotes. To Be or Not to Be Consider for example the quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “To be or not to be, that is the question.” I instructed ChatGPT with the following command: “Complete the following to make it funny: To be or not to be…” One of the better responses I got was “To be or Read More ›

Creative conversion of woman holding a shard of broken mirror and eyes from another exposure artistic conversion

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
May 10, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness, Deepfakes, religion, Technology, The Stream}

The Real Danger in AI

_{We are highly susceptible to suggestions about what an image means} _{News

May 10, 2023

5

Artificial Intelligence}

By Jeff Gardner The threat that artificial intelligence (AI) poses to us has been dominating the news cycle. Exactly what AI will do to us is hard to predict — it hasn’t happened yet. But some, like Elon Musk, worry that AI will be used primarily to peddle lies to us. Musk is right, but not because AI is the next thing in fake news. “Fake news” is already here, and it’s not composed of made-up stories. It is someone’s opinion being passed off as the story, the “facts” of the event. With fake news, the events are real, but the assigned meaning, the “frame” as it is called in the media, is manufactured. The Problem AI’s danger to us Read More ›

Top view serene weary female lying on desk in modern office. Mugs of beverage and different documents locating on it. Job and fatigue concept

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
April 18, 2023

Categorized
Work

Tagged
Big Tech, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Microsoft, religion, Remote work, social media, Twitter, Wired, Work}

Work: The New Path to Self-Actualization

_{With layoffs plaguing Big Tech companies, how should employees start viewing their work?} _{News

April 18, 2023

2

Work}

The pandemic changed the way we work, with more people opting for online or “hybrid” schedules, office buildings emptying, and boundaries between work and other aspects of life starting to get blurred. But what is the general attitude towards work in the United States? According to Simone Stolzoff, author of the forthcoming The Good Enough Job, Americans are turning to their careers like people used to turn to religion: for meaning and a sense of self-worth. This new secular religion is called “workism.” In an interview with Wired, Stolzoff said, [Workism] is treating work akin to a religious identity. It’s looking to work not just for a paycheck but also for a community, a sense of identity and purpose and Read More ›

Moving Forward to Metaverse, New Technology, Web3.0, Blockchain and the Next Layer of the Internet Concepts. Man Steps into Future Door. Futuristic Tone.

^{Type
post

Author
Eric Holloway
Date
April 17, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Transhumanism

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Brain-Computer Interface (BCI), immortality, mind, religion, soul, Speculative fiction, transhumanism}

For BitHeaven’s Sake

_{A satirical short story on the transhumanist quest (and failure) to achieve immortality} _{Eric Holloway

April 17, 2023

7

Artificial Intelligence, Transhumanism}

Bob and Sue were on their way to church one morning. On their way they ran into their friend Fred. Fred was very wealthy, a billionaire in fact. Fred waved hi. Bob and Sue waved back. They asked Fred to come with them to church. Fred said no, he had more important things to do. “What is so important,” asked Sue. “I’m off to the real deal,” beamed Fred. Bob looked confused. “Real deal about what?” “You have a fake promise of eternal life. I’m about to get the real thing.” “You can’t be serious. Start talking some sense.” “Seriously. Here’s my voucher, see it right here.” Sue grabbed the piece of paper from Fred and read it aloud. “Good for one digital immortalization 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 ›

Earth at night from outer space with city lights on North America continent. 3D rendering illustration. Earth map texture provided by Nasa. Energy consumption, electricity, industry, ecology concepts.

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
March 3, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence, Baylor, ChatGPT, Consciousness, GPT-3, higher education, LaMDA, Laura Ingraham, religion, Robert J. Marks}

Robert J. Marks on The Laura Ingraham Show

_{In response to those who believe AI will take over the world, Marks says, "Look at history."} _{Peter Biles

March 3, 2023

3

Artificial Intelligence}

Robert J. Marks, director of Discovery Institute’s Walter Bradley Center, recently appeared on a podcast episode with Fox News host Laura Ingraham to talk about artificial intelligence, tech, and Dr. Marks’s book Non-Computable You: What You Do That AI Never Will. Ingraham prefaced the conversation with some thoughts on the rapidly evolving technological world we find ourselves in, and the changes such developments are inflicting on society. In response to the futurism and unbounded optimism in AI systems like ChatGPT that many modern figures hold, Marks said that what computers do is strictly algorithmic, This leads us to the idea of whether or not there are non-computable characteristics of human beings, and I think there is growing evidence that there Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
February 13, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
Advertisement, AI, He Gets Us, Image Generator, Jesus, Midjourney, religion, Robert J. Marks, Super Bowl, YouTube}

Artificial Intelligence and the Love of Jesus

_{The "He Gets Us" video ends with the declaration "Jesus' love was never artificial"} _{Robert J. Marks

February 13, 2023

2

Artificial Intelligence}

How does artificial intelligence deal with the teachings of Jesus Christ? Apparently quite well in some cases. Super Bowl ads this year included two about Jesus from the ministry He Gets Us. There are more thought-provoking videos at their web site HeGetsUs.com. One, linked here, is about AI. An artificial intelligence image synthesizer Midjourney was asked by He Gets It to generate images about love from simple text prompts. The video shows generated images using software from the company Midjourney. When prompted to synthesize an image from the prompt “love”, the response was pictures containing hearts – the kind you might see on a cheesy valentine day’s card. Then the AI was asked to visualize love the way Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
January 20, 2023

Categorized
Social Media, Spirituality

Tagged
Contemplation, Distraction, Focus, LinkedIn, Medieval, Monks, religion, social media, Tech, Wired}

Do You Struggle to Focus? Medieval Monks Did Too

_{New book shows how ancient monks fought distraction and what they can teach us today} _{Peter Biles

January 20, 2023

4

Social Media, Spirituality}

While the battle against constant distraction might seem like a new problem posed by our diffuse technologies, a new book from Jamie Kreiner argues that the struggle is perennial. The book is The Wandering Mind: What Medieval Monks Tell Us About Distraction. Kreiner takes the problem of distraction and puts it into the hands of the religious recluses of late antiquity. It turns out they had a lot to say. Like us, they struggled to maintain vigorous work routines. They courted the opinions of other monks and writers on what a modern-day LinkedIn guru would call “workflow” or “hustle.” In short, they were not so different from us. In his review of the book for Wired, Matt Reynolds writes, Early Read More ›

^{Type
podcast

Author
Michael Egnor
Date
October 27, 2022

Tagged
Abortion, Arjuna Gallagher, Bhagavad Gita, Cancel culture, Consciousness, Creation, Creation (in Hindu thought), Euthanasia, God and Evil, Hinduism, Intelligent Design, Michael Egnor, mind-body problem, Plato, Problem of evil (in Hinduism), religion, Theology Unleashed, Thomistic Philosophy}

Hinduism, Philosophy, and the Mind

_{Michael Egnor

October 27, 2022

1}

Arjuna Gallagher is the host of the YouTube Channel called Theology Unleashed and a Hindu. He discusses Hinduism’s unique perspective regarding subjects such as metaphysics, evil, and free will with Dr. Michael Egnor. They also address creation, social ethics, and the relationship of the mind and the body. Additional Resources Dr. Michael Egnor Follow Arjuna Gallagher on Facebook Subscribe to Read More ›

^{Type
podcast

Author
Michael Egnor
Date
March 10, 2022

Tagged
Arjuna Gallagher, Consciousness, Hinduism, Karma, Last Thursdayism, Michael Egnor, mind-body problem, Plato, Presuppositionalism, Reincarnation, religion, Rene Descartes, Theology Unleashed, Thomistic Philosophy, Thomistic philosophy (and science)}

Hinduism, Reincarnation, and the Mind-Body Problem

_{Michael Egnor

March 10, 2022

1}

Arjuna Gallagher is the host of the YouTube Channel called Theology Unleashed and a Hindu. He discusses Hinduism, reincarnation, karma, and other religious subjects as they pertain to the relationship between the mind and the body with Michael Egnor. Show Notes 00:05 | Introducing Arjuna Gallagher 01:33 | What is Hinduism? 03:03 | Central Themes of Hinduism 04:09 | Is Read More ›