God knows about an AI thinking for itself
“... he must not be allowed to put out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life”
By Steve Hall
The ability to consciously choose is invaluable. But failing to choose the good, the right, the holy is not, in the long term, a viable one; it only results in death. That’s why the words of the Psalmist about the Lord’s dealings with Israel are a cause for major rejoicing.
“He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his ordinances.”
Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Genesis 3:9-24
Mark 8:1-10
AI seems to be frequently in the news these days. Now this is a subject far from my areas of interest, but I have to assume that all these navigation programs currently available utilize AI at least in its simpler form. That being the case, or at least my assumption, I need to tell you about a few navigational quirks I’ve run into
The first one is simple. The navigation on my car regularly informs me that there is a dirt road ahead when I turn into the local Walmart.
The second incident occurred on a cross country trip. As we approached a medium size town we decided to stop for a cup of coffee and asked navigation to direct us to the nearest Starbucks. We spent forty-five minutes following the system’s directions. Never did find a Starbucks.
From our house to hi-way 24 you drive south on Majestic and then take either a right or a left on Paradise Circle which is one of those half-circle roads. The east end has a traffic light; the west end does not. So how are we directed by navigation when we want to go east toward Colorado Springs? Why, to the west end of course.
My first awareness of AI came way back in 1970 with the release of the SciFi movie: Colossus: The Forbin Project. The movie tells of the creation of a super computer built to manage the defenses of the United States. Very quickly the computer joins with a Soviet AI Computer and the two cooperate to take over everything, determined to protect these naked bipeds from themselves.
Now, I’m a big fan of SciFi, but that’s not the point. So, let’s take a look at today’s Scripture.
God — being God — must have known that creating a creature with intelligence and self-awareness would inevitably produce the situation where the creature would make his own decisions. After all, that’s what intelligence and self-awareness are all about.
I don’t know what Adam and Eve were thinking when they decided to eat that infamous apple. Maybe they were just curious. Maybe they were just hungry. Maybe they were naive. I doubt that they were deliberately trying to offend God. They didn’t even see the damage they had done. God did. He probably even expected it. Living eternally with the consequences of making bad decisions and conceiving wrong choices would have been an eternity of despair.
“Then the LORD God said: ‘See! The man has become like one of us, knowing what is good and what is evil! Therefore, he must not be allowed to put out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life also, and thus eat of it and live forever.’”
The ability to consciously choose is invaluable. But failing to choose the good, the right, the holy is not, in the long term, a viable one; it only results in death. That’s why the words of the Psalmist about the Lord’s dealings with Israel are a cause for major rejoicing.
“He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his ordinances.” (Psalms 147:19-20)
That’s a remarkable and auspicious claim.
So, let’s go back to The Forbin Project. In the story, Forbin was a man, a scientist who was responsible for the construction of the AI Computer which was called Colossus. Obviously someone had to program Colossus. Obviously, that programmer had to be a man. Now the point of creating an AI computer is to create something that can think far faster than the human mind while considering far more factors simultaneously than is possible for the human mind. Unfortunately, that programming may also include the human inclination to fix things, including things best left alone. That’s the Colossus story. And today that is still the fear. Maybe we should rethink the name and instead of calling it Artificial Intelligence call it Imitative Intelligence. In the complete picture, our Imitative Intelligence Computer would not be capable of saying: "My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." (Matthew 26:39) That is, it would not be capable of such a statement unless it was built in; and if it were built in, the possibility of exploring beyond human limitations would diminish or even disappear.
Though man’s intelligence and self-awareness were created, they were not an undiminished copy of the creator. Such profound intelligence would have been beyond the capabilities of any physical being. That fact alone suggests that it would be worthwhile to regularly consider Jesus’ statement: “not as I will, but as you will."
Mankind has been around for a long time; and science continues to push that date-of-origin deeper and deeper into the obscure and distant past. Hundreds? Thousands? Millions of years? Let’s just say it was a long time ago. But during that period mankind has never ceased to think of itself as the Colossus that will bring proper order to the world. I don’t know what Adam and Eve were thinking when they decided to eat that infamous apple.c
But what are we thinking? Are we just curious? Just self-willed? Just naive? I doubt that most people are deliberately looking to offend God. We are blessed to have the basics of his will; and the particulars he will tell us any time we ask - and then listen. We choose our will but it’s always for naught either in the long run or the short. Yet we keep repeating the flawed choice.
They say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and each time expecting different results.
Maybe we should ask if that applies.