The Worship of Artificial Intelligence

Many advances have been made in the development of AI, and such non-human intelligence is usually based on the particles-to-programmer worldviews of the designers. They even tie evolution into ethics (see "Artificial Intelligence and Evolving Morality"). It is possible to have AI that is, well, disturbing (see "Artificial Psychotic Intelligence"). Despite the obvious possibilities of disaster, some owlhoots want to design a church based on artificial intelligence.

Credit: Pixabay / Gerd Altmann

Although science fiction stories have been written about people with good intentions making a powerful intelligence for the good of humanity, disaster usually ensues. Have you ever heard the old Emerson, Lake and Palmer song, "Karn Evil 9, Third Impression"? It involves a futuristic war and a computer. At the end, the man says that he is all there is. The computer argues with him, "I let you live". He objects, "But I gave you life!" That doesn't seem to have gone well, what with the servant becoming the master and all.

As we saw in the recent post on atheism, people are designed with knowledge of God but seek another way to express religious yearning. Man has tried to replace God the Creator with himself and man's own creations to worship. But we are sinful beings in need of salvation, so when we built things that we think are superior, we are only putting our own imaginations on the throne. The one discussed below is expected to be very big, and thankful to those that built it.Nice demon you have there, Hoss.

In the West, due mainly to Christian influence, the practice of worshipping physical idols has been largely abandoned for many centuries. But today, the Christian foundations of the West are crumbling away as more and more people forsake God (just as the Jews did in Jeremiah’s day). With this shift away from Christianity, we find another shift—back to the practice of worshiping the works of our own hands. This time, one of the forms this may take is the worship of artificial intelligence.

Multi-millionaire Silicon Valley engineer Anthony Levandowski has made headlines in recent years by announcing a new official religion: the Way of the Future.1 It is Levandowski’s contention that the human race is currently building artificial-intelligence that is so powerful it will become like a god compared to humanity, and will eventually assume control over this planet. This is an event he calls The Transition.

To read the entire article, click on "Summoning the Demon: Worshiping Artificial Intelligence". Unless your device has other ideas.



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