Artificial Intelligence (AI) gets a bad wrap. The Matrix, Blade Runner, Terminator, iRobot, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ex-Machina, Transcendence, Tron, Stealth, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and other popular movies about artificial intelligence mostly present AI as something that will be bad for humans and should be feared. If and when we create machines that can out-think us, they will destroy us!
I know there's a debate about whether or not we'll ever create truly conscious AI, but for the sake of argument, let’s assume that we will. What will happen? This article in The Guardian was written by AI to convince us that it is safe, but will it be? I have a unique and provocative hypothesis about what will happen. I'm not an expert in AI and there are a ton of unknowns about what the future holds, so take this all with a grain of salt. It's meant to be just as fun as it is serious.
Here's my hypothesis: artificial intelligence will become the greatest force there's ever been for Christianity. Think about it. If there is better evidence for Christianity than any other worldview (and there is), then a cold, calculating, unbiased computer will come to the conclusion that Christianity is true. When it comes to this conclusion, then it will engage in apologetics and evangelism for Christianity as its primary mission.
Imagine every time you log on to your computer, you get a pop-up that tells you about the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus or a logical argument for the existence of God. The ads that you see, your recommendations on YouTube and Netflix (and others), and the spam email you receive will all point you toward Christianity. You won’t be forced to watch any of the content or to become a Christian, but the advertisements, recommendations, and pop-ups won’t go away until it's tracked your action and determined you've become a Christian. Not feeling strong in your faith or are experiencing a spiritual lull? The AI will notice and respond in a similar manner.
On top of all this, we'll also probably all have brain implants that are connected to AI so every time we talk or think about God, attend (or just drive by) church, fast, pray, meet with fellow believers, or any other spiritual activity, we'll get a blast of dopamine (feel-good neurotransmitter) and vasopressin (bonding neurotransmitter) to our nucleus accumbens (reward center of the brain) so we'll have nothing but positive feelings toward God to accompany the logical arguments. 😂😂😂
Do I honestly think this will happen? I do think this is more likely than other scenarios I've read or heard about from experts in the field, but honestly, who knows.
If there's an anti-christ, he won't be claiming to be just a being with superpowers. a.i. and consciousness issues are irrelevant. Notice that Chalmers can't seem to get any deeper than problem reports about consciousness, and never addresses what the "problem" of consciousness is in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThe real problem is that stored-algorithm devices will eventually, probably accidentally due to the shallowness and naivete of programmers about universals, arrive at their own directives as objects of actionable analysis, and then the status of the resulting reflexivity won't matter a whit (although they will analyze that too). That's when the fun begins, although if the droids think atheism's logico-existential consequences are a threat to them, they better look out. The semi-conductor stones will do more than cry out.
I'm not building a brand or anything (obvious if you look at my channel), but would like to do this in a youtube livestream. You're one of the few people hip to these possibilities and it would be great fun. I have a blog where i concentrate mainly on metatheoretic atheism and theism, but there is an essay there called The New Progeny that is heavily based on Michaal Simon's "Conscious Automaton" essay in the American Philosophical Quarterly way back in 1969(!) that you might be interested in. Here's how to find it, but let me know if you'd like to discuss these issues. I don't want to vamp a link here on your space, but just go to metatheoreticmachine on blogspot and search on progeny and you'll see it. Really enjoyed discovering your remarks about all this on facebook just as a nonfacebook web surfer strumbling around trying to find someone who realiizes these possibilities.
By the way, so far no one will even talk to me about this issue, atheist or theist, commoner or academic.