Thursday, July 2, 2015

Improving On God

 [1]
Thursday, July 2, 2015
Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us.  They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”  So God created human beings in his own image.  In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.  Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply.  Fill the earth and govern it.  Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”  Genesis 1:26-28 (NLT)
The next time you order pizza delivery the knock at the door may be AI – literally! 

According to a recent post on InterestingEngineering.com recent developments and advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have robots doing a lot more than you think. 

And it’s not all about a robot delivering your pizza.

The Future of Life Institute is impressive; their governing board includes the likes of Alan Alda and Steven Hawking.  They’re also very forthcoming about who they are and what they’re trying to do.  The home page of their website states their mission:

FLI catalyzes and supports research and initiatives for safeguarding life and developing optimistic visions of the future, including positive ways for humanity to steer its own course considering new technologies and challenges.[2]

According to the website, they are concerned.  As a watchdog institution eyeballing the development of science which has the potential to not only bless, but possibly blast humanity, a recent post shared the concern that huge leaps forward are not only possible, but happening. 

In short (and within the limitations of my feeble grasp of science), if the robots are made better and better, and given the ability to program themselves, they’ll eventually do it better than we can.  And they’ll keep doing it better, until they’re so far ahead of humans they become a menace to their creators.  We will become obsolete, and, perhaps, ready for the recycle bin.

Ugh!

According to our text today, God told Adam and Eve to rule over creation, and all the animals.  Perhaps God should have spelled it out that we should be very careful about taking things too far. 

There is a point at which your advances can also become your destruction!

And I think that is the point of The Future of Life Institute.

The organization offers to keep us informed – I signed up for updates, and I’ll let you know what I hear.

For You Today

There’s another future of life reality that has nothing to do with a website – and it isn’t concerned at all with AI or scientific genius; here’s what it does say:

I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people!  He will live with them, and they will be his people.  God himself will be with them.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.  All these things are gone forever.”  And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!”  And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”  And he also said, “It is finished!  I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End.  To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.   Revelation 21:3-6(NLT)
Nothing artificial about that life!



[1] Title image: Courtesy – The Future of Life Institute
[2] futureoflife.org 

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