Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Supra-Intelligence

Home , Berserker (novel series), Gap creationism, Yuval Levin

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

You shall love your neighbor as yourself:

Timothy Kasbe

Duke Divinity School Duke University

Date:____4/24/2020______Approved:

______Samuel Wells, Supervisor

______Luke Bretherton,c Se ond Reader

______Will Willimon, D.Min. Director

Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Ministry in Duke Divinity School of Duke University

2020 DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

ABSTRACT

All things were created by Him and for Him:

Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Supra-Intelligence

Timothy Kasbe

Duke Divinity School Duke University

Date:______4/24/2020 Approved:

______Samuel Wells, Supervisor

______Luke Bretherton, Second Reader

______Will Willimon, D.Min. Director

Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Ministry in Duke Divinity School of Duke University

2020 DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Abstract

All things were created by Him and for Him:

Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Supra-Intelligence

Fascination with automation has captured the human imagination for thousands

of years. As far back as 800 CE, when Baghdad was at its height as one of the world’s

most cultured cities, its House of Wisdom produced a remarkable text, “The Book of

Ingenious Devices.” In it were beautiful schematic drawings of machines years ahead of

anything in Europe—clocks, hydraulic instruments, even a water-powered organ with

swappable pin-cylinders that was effectively a programmable device.

The fascination with automation has come a long way since then. Technological

advancements in the last seventy years have provided unprecedented opportunities for

humans to explore not only automation, but now also the creation of intelligent and

superintelligent machines. These machines promise to mimic human qualities and even

supersede humanity in every manner of task and intelligence. The explosion of, and

ready access to, information through the internet has proved to be challenging in some

regards but has also eased other aspects of life. An example of this would be the way

long-lost friends can be reunited through the click of a mouse. Similarly, news

accompanied by pictures and videos is now readily available in real-time. These

conveniences have also brought unintended consequences. Despite this newfound

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

connectivity, social challenges such as loneliness and suicide are on the rise. Technology

has also opened the door to problems such as cyberbullying, election manipulation, and

fake news. Information, whether it be accurate or not, spreads across the world at

unprecedented speeds, carrying with it change, sometimes for the better, but not always.

This is all happening before the anticipated age of superintelligence.

This thesis examines the distinct nature of humanity and God in view of the

emergence of superintelligence. Can we see this “new creation” as an addition to God’s

creation of humans, angels, and Satan? If that be the case, then questions of ethics and

theology need to be addressed. For instance, who gets to program these new

superintelligent “beings?” As things stand today, the individuals and corporations with

the deepest pockets are racing to be the first to produce superintelligent beings. The so-

called “technology horse” has already bolted, with government policy struggling to

keep up. Unseen in this race is the prophetic and ethical voice of the church, regarding

the meaning of life, and what living in this new reality will look like.

More questions are raised than can be answered in this paper. How does the Church

stay true to its message of hope in a world where robots will likely take over everyday

jobs? Where will humanity find meaning and contentment? What are we to think about

the idea of a basic universal wage? How will such a shift impact migrant and the poor?

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

In this paper I establish a framework for the church to consider different aspects of these

challenges, even as people are welcomed weekly into the community of faith.

This thesis represents extensive research into the philosophy and practice of

safety engineering, paired with personal experiences as a professional in the technology

industry who is also deeply committed to being a disciple of Christ. Primary works I

have drawn from extensively include Hauerwas and Wells’ Blackwell Companion to

Christian Ethics, and Jungian archetypes in comparing and contrasting biological beings

to technological creations. The paper starts with creation accounts from Genesis and the

Enuma Elish as a way of exploring the “being” category as it appears on this planet.

Personal insights gained working in both enterprise and startup businesses, as well as in

my own professional development, have contributed to this work and may be found

throughout. This thesis represents a labor of love through which I have learned a great

deal about my own profession and faith. However, it is my sincere hope that it will be

much more. Through this dissertation I hope to see companies both big and small

taking note of the ethical issues discussed here, even as they find themselves unleashing

artificial intelligence in the marketplace. At the same time, I expect churches and

religious organizations will benefit from this discussion and will, I hope, move to

engage more deeply with culture and the marketplace as new opportunities and risks

emerge from the implementation of artificial intelligence. If the observations that I have

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

made and the recommendations that I have set forth can inspire even one person to

carefully examine his or her identity in Christ, then this work will be successful beyond

its original purpose as an academic work.

vii

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Dedication

my mother, Sarala D. Kasbe

who instilled value for education and provision

viii

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Contents

Abstract ...... iv

Dedication ...... viii

Contents ...... ix

List of Figures ...... xii

Acknowledgements ...... xiii

1. Myths, fictions and stories in human and AI creation ...... 1

1.1 The Genesis account of creation ...... 2

1.2 Sumerian creation myth ...... 4

1.3 Egyptian creation myth ...... 10

1.4 Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein ...... 12

1.4.1 Rossum’s Universal Robots ...... 14

1.4.2 Isaac Asimov and Murray Leinster ...... 15

1.5 Ethical lessons from the creation of humans and robotic fiction ...... 17

1.5.1 Community and relationship ...... 17

1.5.2 State of the human heart ...... 21

1.5.3 Boundlessness of God ...... 24

1.6 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s noosphere ...... 25

2. Artificial intelligence and the Imago Dei ...... 30

2.1 Background and definitions ...... 36

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

2.1.1 Computer programming ...... 37

2.1.2 Artificial Intelligence ...... 38

2.1.3 Superintelligence ...... 38

2.2 Current progress of AI ...... 40

2.3 Imago Dei ...... 46

2.3.1 Positive or liberating meanings of the Imago Dei ...... 47

2.3.2 Unintended meanings and consequences of the Imago Dei ...... 57

3. AI and life forms ...... 61

3.1 Soil and Silicon (Si) ...... 62

3.2 From soil to cyborg? ...... 73

3.3 Breath of God ...... 80

3.4 Morality in body or in soul? ...... 83

4. Implications of AI on our planet and society ...... 92

4.1 Economic implications ...... 98

4.2 Political implications ...... 105

4.3 Theological and ethical implications ...... 116

5. AI and the Church ...... 124

5.1 AI and ethics ...... 125

5.2 Practical suggestions ...... 133

5.2.1 Revisiting Frankenstein ...... 134

5.2.2 Rediscover the scientific roots of the reformation ...... 141

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

5.2.3 Move the discussion from the front of the Bible to the middle of the Bible ...... 147

5.2.4 Promoting a positive and mindful approach to AI ...... 152

5.2.5 Nimbleness ...... 156

Appendix A ...... 160

Appendix B ...... 162

Appendix C ...... 166

Appendix D ...... 167

Bibliography ...... 168

Biography ...... 197

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

List of Figures

Figure 2-1: Heidegger’s unification of Aristotle’s causes ...... 31

Figure 2-2: Russell and Norvig’s Four Forms of Artificial Achievement ...... 42

Figure 2-3: Wenham’s Questions Surrounding the Imago Dei89 ...... 48

Figure 3-1: Brain Implant Electrode - Photo by Dan Winters ...... 77

Figure 3-2: Electrode Implant - Illustration by Francesco Muzzi ...... 78

Figure 3-3: Phineas Cage’s Iron Rod Injury ...... 84

Figure 4-1: Fangman worth more than France and UK combined, December 2019 ...... 104

Figure 4-2: Political Chatter Diagram ...... 110

Figure 5-1: Ethical Principles Identified in Existing AI Guidelines ...... 128

Figure 5-2: Introduction of Technology and Ethics with Resultant Chaos ...... 134

xii

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I would like to thank God for enabling me to complete this

work. I want to thank him for wisdom, knowledge, strength, ability, and opportunity to

undertake this study, and to persevere and complete it satisfactorily. Without His grace,

this achievement would not be possible.

I especially want to thank my supervisor, Samuel Wells, for not only his

guidance during my research and study at Duke Divinity School, but also for

encouraging me to embark on this study in the first place. I am privileged to have Luke

Bretherton as my second reader. And, valued the interaction we had as this dissertation

unfolded. His knowledge of theological anthropology was impressive, encouraging, and

incredibly helpful.

I am grateful to my family for their love and support throughout my life. This

study simply would not have been possible without them. The time spent away for my

residency and the time we were apart because of the war in Russia is a testament to their

commitment to me and my growth.

I would like to acknowledge my colleagues at Intrexon Corporation (now

Precigen, Inc.). R.J. Kirk, previous chairman and CEO of Intrexon, and I were the only

people at Intrexon back in 2011 who had not yet completed our doctoral studies. I took

this as a challenge and studied further and in so doing, joined the cadre of doctorates at

xiii

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Intrexon (even though it’s a different kind). I want to thank R.J. for his encouragement

throughout this project.

For my parents, knowledge was a sort of currency. Their dreams for me to

“never stop learning” resulted in this achievement. Without their loving upbringing and

nurturing, I would not be where I am today, and I would not be the person I am today.

My dreams of excelling in my study of theology and technology would have remained

mere dreams had it not been for my parents' unflinching insistence and support. I thank

my father with all my heart. He is my ultimate cheerleader and encourager. I know that

he is proud of me, having been born and brought up in a dusty village in India, now

traversing the boardrooms of Fortune 50 companies. I wish him a long life filled with

much work. Even though my mother passed away last year, I know she continued to

look over me and send her blessings. She truly is my guardian angel.

I would also like to thank my dear friends (too many to list here) who have

continued to be by my side as I walked this doctoral journey through to the completion

of my thesis. I want to thank them for putting up with me in difficult moments when I

felt disheartened and confused, and for always encouraging me to follow my dream of

getting this degree. This would not have been possible without their unwavering and

unselfish support given to me at all times. Ralph Du Plessis has been my soulmate

xiv

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

throughout this project, and without his constant nudging, this thesis would simply not

have happened.

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

1. Myths, fictions and stories in human and AI creation

Stories have significance. Stories link their message with humans’ moral code,

and the moral code has implications on behavior. Details of these stories vary from

culture to culture, but the moral code underneath the story more or less remains

consistent across cultures. For example, it is considered wrong to commit genocide or

kill hundreds of people using automatic and semi-automatic weapons. The story about

how the killing was done may differ from culture to culture, but the moral code beneath

it is common. The creation of both human intelligence and artificial intelligence are

borne out of stories, be they millennia-old accounts in the biblical narrative of Genesis,

the Sumerian epic of Enuma Elish, the Egyptian Ennead, or recent writings that depict

the creation of artificial intelligence, as in Mary’s Shelley’s Frankenstein or Karl Capek’s

Rossum’s Universal Robots.1 Their mythologies convey to us stories of transformation. In

the case of Frankenstein and Rossum’s Universal Robots, artificial intelligence was non-

existent. But looking back, they stand out as prophetic in the face of the robots we now

experience every day. I will examine the contents of these stories, with the aim of

1 Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (London: Penguin, 2012); Karel Capek and David Short, Rossum’s Universal Robots (London: Hesperus, 2011). "A Robot is a machine, especially one programable by a computer – capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically." As defined in "Oxford English Dictionary," Oxford University Press, http://www.oed.com/. 1

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

drawing out the moral implications with which they present us, highlighting their

cultural significance then and now.

1.1 The Genesis account of creation

“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day,” (Gen. 1:1–5, NRSV).

In these few verses, at the beginning of Genesis, we are confronted with two

conflicting ideas: chaos and logos. Chaos represents formlessness, emptiness, and

darkness. By contrast, God’s word, the spoken word, represents logos, logic, and

rationality, which creates order: “’Let there be light’; and there was light.” (v.3) The

separation of light from darkness, one led by unconsciousness and the other by

consciousness, are both necessary and prerequisite to produce a being. The word of God

creates order out of chaos.2 There is a direct connection between the word of God and

Jesus Christ. In John 1:1-5 we read:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”

2 Gordon J. Wenham, John Isaac Durham, and Philip J. Budd, Word Biblical Commentary. Vol 1: Genesis 1-15 (Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1987), ii, 6. 2

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Christ is the order-maker out of chaos, the chaos of sin that causes darkness

within the human heart. He dies for his enemies, to save them from the certain death

that awaits all creation. The story of creation is a story of transformation from darkness

into light and from chaos into order, establishing a livable order of biological

intelligence. The most distinctive feature in the creation account is the creation of

humanity in the image of God, as described in Genesis 1:26-27:

In the creation account of humanity, biological intelligence is seen as partaking

directly in the nature and character of the deity. For example, in Genesis 1, God names

the creation; by contrast in Genesis 2, Adam names the creation. In the same way the

cosmos rises out of darkness and chaos, humanity is not only of the deity, but also

dependent on it for its operation. Thousands of years later, the early church would sing,

“For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets

have said, ‘For we too are his offspring,’” (Acts 17:28). The oneness of God and

humanity as an implication of the order-making in a chaotic world is a continual

process, even as the church confronts factions and racism within its body (cf. 1

Corinthians 12:13; Colossians 3:28; Galatians 3:28).

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

1.2 Sumerian creation myth

Scholars predicate the creation account in Genesis on earlier writings.3 An older

story that is commonly discussed is the Sumerian account of creation in the Enuma Elish

myth, dating back some five thousand years. In this account of creation, the political

structure of the Sumerian culture is directly linked to the myth. For example, the

emperor is the direct representation of the highest God in the Mesopotamian

pantheon—Marduk. This representation gave the emperor sovereignty, which was used

to avert revolutions in the community.

The Enuma Elish starts with Tiamat, the female representation of chaos, at the

bottom of the ocean. Water is an essential element in this primordial thinking and can be

linked to what we now know about the human body. Over ninety percent of the human

body is comprised of water. Seventy-three percent of the human brain, the seat of

biological intelligence, is water.4 The sun also comes into the picture, presented in the

myth as the source of all energy known to our universe. Tiamat is locked in a sexual

embrace with her husband Apsu, in an egg-like state, presenting an indistinguishable

3 L. W. King, The Seven Tablets of Creation (London, 1902); John MacArthur, The Battle for the Beginning (Thomas Nelson Incorporated, 2005). 4 Project WET Foundation, “Aqua Bodies,” Hydration Activities, 2010, https://www.projectwet.org/sites/default/files/content/documents/hydration-activities.pdf. 4

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

yet beautiful picture of the unity between male and female. Together they produce a

sense of the creation, creating a new form of being. This results in the initial creation of

beings that led to the dominion of the elder gods. These elder gods create havoc and

cause winds, which end up rousing Tiamat. There is a sense that any form of activity is

likely to threaten a catastrophe. Even attempting to solve problems could result in the

emergence of a multitude of new problems, much like the hydra, the serpentine monster

that keeps growing new heads as its old ones are chopped off.5 Humans’ frenetic

activity, per the Enuma Elish, alters the cosmos, which could result in the destruction of

nature itself, the complete annihilation of humanity and creation. In today’s postmodern

world, we live with this daily fear, that our frenetic activity will alter the cosmos in a

way that will destroy both nature and us. This is a classic Sumerian fear.

This primordial dominion of the gods is not one of logical and rational beings

like that of humans. The gods cause a racket around the world and disturb Tiamat, the

symbol of chaos. She decides to wipe them out. While Tiamat is fuming at the bottom of

the ocean, the gods overstep their realm and end up killing Apsu, the representation of

order, logic, culture, and rationality. The gods go so far as to destroy culture itself. That

which gave rise to the gods ends up killing them. The destruction of culture results in

grave, unintended consequences, parallel to the Sumerian myth. Tiamat destroys the

5 Daniel Ogden, Drakon: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in The Greek and Roman Worlds (2013), 29-30. 5

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

world, reverting it back to its primordial, non-existent state. The gods know that Tiamat

can wipe them out in a matter of seconds. Generations later they produce a grandson,

Marduk. When Marduk’s father sees him, this is what he observes (Enuma Elish, 90-

103):

81 In Apsû was Marduk born, 82 In pure Apsû was Marduk born. 83 Ea his father begat him, 84 Damkina his mother bore him. 85 He sucked the breasts of goddesses, 86 A nurse reared him and filled him with terror. 87 His figure was well developed, the glance of his eyes was dazzling, 88 His growth was manly, he was mighty from the beginning. 89 Anu, his father's begetter, saw him, 90 He exulted and smiled; his heart filled with joy. 91 Anu rendered him perfect: his divinity was remarkable, 92 And he became very lofty, excelling them in his attributes. 93 His members were incomprehensibly wonderful, 94 Incapable of being grasped with the mind, hard even to look on. 95 Four were his eyes, four his ears, 96 Flame shot forth as he moved his lips. 97 His four ears grew large, 93 And his eyes likewise took in everything. 99 His figure was lofty and superior in comparison with the gods, 100 His limbs were surpassing, his nature was superior. 101 'Mari-utu, Mari-utu, 102 The Son, the Sun-god, the Sun-god of the gods.' 103 He was clothed with the aura of the Ten Gods, so exalted was his strength,

In line 99 above we read the first indication that Marduk represents something

elevated compared to the primordial deity. Marduk is the offspring of the gods. He

represents heightened awareness, with four large ears and four eyes. His status

surpasses that of his forefathers; when he speaks, fire spurts out; there is power in his

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

speech. He is also associated with the sun, the consciousness. When the sun rises, the

day begins. According to the sun/solar myth, he is a deity of cyclical nature, in line with

the cyclical nature of the sun (rising and setting). Just as Tiamat is about to wipe out all

the gods, in Marduk a hero is born. The crisis, the unknown, the fear, the panic, the

nerves, the destabilizing forces beckon the arrival of this necessary hero. Many

interpretations are made of Marduk, but the one that makes sense here is the one that

deals with the human condition. We are born in pain, and a child undergoes emotions of

fear, panic, and lack of confidence. As that child grows through into his twenties and

thirties, a single force needs to bring all these negative and dark emotions under control.

The Sumerian author is as much doing psychology here as dealing with the undisputed

dominion of the elder gods (instincts). The question, then, is, “Who should rule?” What

becomes the governing rule? How are values built? The Mesopotamians, the first great

civilization, needed to bring hundreds of tribes into a single, integrated order. How is

this all represented? Marduk is elected king and prepared for battle having been given

irresistible weapons. Marduk confronts Tiamat and binds her in a net. The net

powerfully symbolizes wisdom, in the sense that when humans face the unknown, they

engulf themselves in the explanatory network of that unknown. They give the unknown

a substantial form, versus fighting out of it. Marduk’s name is also “Who accomplished

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

clever things in the battle with Tia-mat.”(Tablet VII:116).6 Marduk cuts Tiamat into

pieces, and out of them makes the world.

The Sumerians are providing a metaphor where Marduk represents the one who

can use calamity to fashion the world. This story of human civilization speaks of using

our creative genius to make a world out of the unknown. Embodiment of the logos is

precisely that which Marduk represents in the Sumerian epic: the human capacity to

redeem the world. These myths may not be believed any more, but their principles sit at

the basis of Western society and how humanity survives, thrives, and enjoys this world.

Once a year the Sumerians would take their king outside the city to a place

considered unsafe. There the priest would take away all the king’s status symbols, strike

him, and then force King Marduk to confess all his shortcomings and sins. This served

as a means of “recharging” at the start of the new year, bringing fresh perspective and

action which aligned with Marduk. If this was not done the kingdom could be lost.

Marduk then reenacted his fight with Tiamat, after which he was locked up with a

prostitute for the purposes of procreation, so that something new could be made. It has

been noted that the idea of New Year’s resolutions may be rooted in this archaic

6 Joshua J. Mark, “Enuma Elish - The Babylonian Epic of Creation - Full Text,” 2018, https://www.ancient.eu/article/225/enuma-elish---the-babylonian-epic-of-creation---fu/. 8

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Sumerian tradition. In any case, the tradition of installing someone into power served as

a healthy yearly reminder that authority ultimately implied accountability to the people.

In the ancient stories and myths, these representations of gods function as what

the postmodern world would describe as motivational forces. For example, the warrior

god is one filled with rage, whereas Venus represents motives of love, sex, and passion.

Stimuli have the ability to unleash power to behave in a certain way. Notions of deity

meant stimuli or motivational forces. Freud’s fundamental motivational levels could be

called gods or deities in the ancient narratives. Many times, such motivational forces are

beyond explicit explanations. A recent study shows mice will not mate with other mice

that have rH factors closer to their own.7 Another study in humans resulted in a similar

finding: women will generally avoid men that have rH factors close to their own.8

Emotional and motivational systems are programmed in humans on a far deeper level

than is known at a conscious level, which is known to control our behavior voluntarily.

When one is gripped with fear, there is no way of responding to it. Psychologists call

7 Hiroyuki Arakawa et al., "Scent Marking Behavior as an Odorant Communication in Mice," Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 32, no. 7 (2008/09/01/ 2008), https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2008.05.012, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763408000766. For a definition of the Rh Factor see "Medical Definition of Rh factor," accessed 3 February 2020, 2020, https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=5351. 8 D. F. Cappell, "Recent Advances in Our Knowledge of the Rh Factor," The British Medical Journal 2, no. 4571 (1948). 9

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

this “generalized inhibition”.9 These motivational forces (or deities) are deeply

programmed into humans and activated at the appropriate time. After many thousands

of years, science is only now proving that these myths and stories motivate the behavior

systems intertwined in humans.10

1.3 Egyptian creation myth

The Egyptian myth, the Ennead, which brings together nine different and often

conflicting stories, also has a clear account of fertility and order to balance out chaos.

Geb and Nut give birth to Osiris and Isis, and to Set and Nephthys, who become

couples. Osiris and Isis represent fertility and order, while Set and Nephthys represent

chaos, balancing out Osiris and Isis. The uniqueness of this myth is that it was revealed

at the dawn of civilization, as opposed to developing over hundreds of years like the

Enuma Elish and the biblical account in the book of Genesis. Much like Romulus in

Rome, Osiris founded Egypt and mythologically represented all the pharaohs and

leaders of the Egyptian state. However, his evil brother Set wanted undeserved

dominion. Osiris, in his old age, failed to notice Set, who ended up chopping up Osiris

and distributing his body parts to all the regions of Egypt. Clear and present evil is a

9 Bart Verkuil, Jos F. Brosschot, Julian F. Thayer, "Generalized Unsafety Theory of Stress: Unsafe Environments and Conditions, and the Default Stress Response," International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 15, no. 3 (2018). 10 Mozhgan Yahyazade, "Myth from a Psychological Point of View," Journal of Arts and Humanities 2, no. 5 (2013). 10

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

permanent mark of the world, as per these myths. Set became ruler of Egypt, whereas

Osiris lived a ghost-like existence in the underworld. When Osiris’s wife Isis noticed the

disappearance of her husband, she went looking for him, and eventually found his

phallus and impregnated herself with it. New potential is in view in these myths, when

a collapse occurs. Culture can be broken up and drowned, but it always has potential for

new birth. Isis gave birth to Horus, who was raised outside of the typical evil Egyptian

culture established through the rule of Set. Horus eventually engaged in a horrific fight

with Set, who plucked out Horus’ eye. Horus defeated Set and retrieved his eye, but

instead of putting the eye back in its socket, he searched for Osiris in the underworld

and gave this eye to an aging, blind Osiris. With that, Osiris’ sight was restored. He took

Osiris back to the Egyptian kingdom and together they represented Egyptian

sovereignty. Horus functions similarly to logos or Marduk in this story, defeating chaos

in its brutal form. Egyptians see sovereignty in the combination of youthful power

(Horus) and the wisdom of the past (Osiris). Ka represents the spirit of the pharaohs

which was the combination of Horus and Osiris. Maat then becomes the phenomenon of

good order or truth in Egyptian society. If the pharaoh possessed the spirit of Horus and

Osiris, then he would be endowed with the ability to decide appropriate action. The

Egyptians immortalized the deity of the pharaohs by building the pyramids, which are

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

considered momentous feats even in today’s industrialized world. The impact of such

monuments on the beholder in 5000 BCE is unimaginable.

1.4 Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

We have examined three myths or stories, namely the account of creation in

Genesis, the Enuma Elish from the Sumerians, and the Egyptian account of creation.

Although these accounts are not necessarily considered factual in today’s world, the

western world appears to be built on the principles of these myths.11 With regard to

robots and AI, the myths and stories started around 200 years ago, as can be seen in the

bicentennial celebration of Mary Shelley’s book, Frankenstein. The novel was conceived

during a rainy summer vacation in the Swiss Alps, where Shelley and her husband,

Percy Bysshe Shelley, spent nights reading German ghost stories. The novel is a series of

letters by explorer Robert Walton to his sister Margaret Saville. Walton takes a daring

and dangerous winter voyage to the North Pole; he hopes he will be “accomplishing

some great purpose,” to discover the earth’s magnetism, or simply to set foot on

undiscovered territory. In his second letter, we read that Walton is gripped with

loneliness and bemoans the lack of friends in his life, but he considers himself too

sophisticated to share his dreams with his uneducated shipmates. Walton tells his sister

11 Jonathan D. Sarna, American Judaism: A History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004); Joseph Jacobs, "Jewish Contributions to Civilization: An Estimate," The Jewish Publication Society of America, https://www.questia.com/read/1356351/jewish-contributions-to-civilization-an-estimate. 12

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

that the ship has now sailed, and he is confident that he will achieve his aim. We read

that the ship has stalled between huge sheets of ice. Walton and his shipmates spot a

sledge driven by a gigantic creature about half a mile away. The next morning, they find

another sledge stranded on the ice. All but one dog pulling the sledge is alive. The man

on the sledge is weak and starving. After two days of trying, Walton convinces the man

to board the ship where he is cared for by the crew. The rescued man is Victor

Frankenstein who goes on to tell the tale of how he made a human being with “materials

within his command.”12 Victor is so enamored with the project that he confesses, “my

limbs now tremble, and my eyes swim with the remembrance; but then a resistless, and

almost frantic impulse, urged me forward; I seemed to have lost all soul or sensation but

for this one pursuit.”13 He had become so occupied with his creation that for two years

he missed the seasons, blossoms, and expanding leaves to only regret the moment he

saw “the dull yellow eye of the creature open…. How can I describe my emotions at this

catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had

endeavored to form?”14 This was just the beginning of the chaos Victor brought to his

world. The monster he created caused fear, pain, and the death of Victor’s immediate

12 Shelley, Frankenstein, 36. 13 Ibid, 39. 14 Ibid 41. 13

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

family and friends. Eventually, Victor himself dies in fear even as the monster walks

away to kill himself.

1.4.1 Rossum’s Universal Robots

In 1920, Karel Capek wrote a play called Rossum’s Universal Robots (RUR).15 The

play starts by presenting the motive for creating robots as the replacement of back-

breaking human labor and the elimination of poverty. Helena Glory, the daughter of the

president of the robot business, is shown around the factory by Harry Domin, one of the

managers on the factory floor. Domin explains to Helena that the factory is producing

lots of robots, and that it will change the world and make labor so cheap that all work

and poverty will be eliminated. Helena tries to convince the robots to revolt, but the

robots are completely uninterested. Domin falls in love with Helena and asks her to

marry him. Ten years down the road, things have taken a turn for the worse. Given that

robots do everything, humans are not needed, and hence have stopped having children.

Upon hearing this, Helena is upset and burns the formula for making more robots. At

the same time, robots begin to revolt, as they are frustrated with their subservience and

decide to kill all humans. Led by Domin, humans plan to escape by boat, but find

themselves surrounded by robots. There is no compromise in this “black and white”

play, and the robots kill all humans except Alquist, the chief engineer at RUR; he is

15 Karel Capek and David Short, Rossum's Universal Robots (London: Hesperus, 2011). 14

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

spared only to help the robots find the formula for making more robots. Alquist tries but

cannot remake the formula to make more robots. Suffering loneliness, Alquist asks

robots to bring him humans—but there are no humans to be found. Eventually they find

two robots, Primus and Helena, who have souls. Alquist discovers that these robots are

in love, which means the human race can be saved. Both Frankenstein and RUR were

written when there was little automation or computing around. In both stories the

condition of human loneliness and also the threat of the destruction of the world are in

view.

1.4.2 Isaac Asimov and Murray Leinster

When computing was in its infancy, biochemist and writer Isaac Asimov

introduced three laws of robotics in his book, The Brain, published in 1945. This led to

many other books on the subject and began a discussion around ethical quandaries

arising from advancements in technology and its potential conflict with law and policy.

This was the direct antecedent of the root of the problem faced by HAL 9000 in Stanley

Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, released in 1968, and by M-5 in the Star Trek episode,

“The Ultimate Computer,” also aired in 1968.

Asimov’s three laws of robotics are:16

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

16 Isaac Asimov, I, Robot (New York: Doubleday, 1950), 40. 15

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second laws.

Yet in the event that a robot finds it impossible to obey both the second law and

the third law at the same time, it is frozen in a loop of repetitive behavior. This is

depicted in the story, Runaround, which is part of Asimov’s collection, I, Robot. Here

the characters Powell and Donovan, along with their Robot SPD-13, known as “Speedy,”

are sent to Mercury to restart operations at an abandoned mining station. They discover

that the photocell banks that provide life-support to the base are running low on

selenium, an essential element needed in powering the station, and that the station could

soon fail. Speedy can withstand the high temperatures of Mercury and is duly sent to

the selenium pool some seventeen miles away. After Speedy disappears for hours, they

find Speedy with the help of a primitive robot. They find that the selenium source has

had an adverse effect on Speedy and that the robot is malfunctioning. Due to this

malfunction, Speedy can’t obey the second law to obey humans and oscillates between

the second and third law. Eventually, Powell risks his own life by going out into the heat

hoping the first law of robotics will kick in and Speedy will save his life. The plan works,

and they are able to fix the photocell banks.

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

In the 1946 book, Logic Named Joe, by Murray Leinster,17 again in a time when

computing was in its infancy, the story is narrated by a “logic repairman” nicknamed

Ducky. The “logic” is a computer-like device described as looking “like a vision received

used to, only it’s got keys instead of keyboard.” Commands in the logic are processed by

punching the keys. Joe proceeds to switch around a few relays in the central intelligence

repositories and cross-correlates all the information ever assembled—yielding highly

unexpected results. Logic starts to behave unexpectedly and freely leaks content to

anyone on demand, for example, providing unexpected assistance to anyone designing

custom chemicals that alleviate inebriation, giving inappropriate sex advice to small

children, and plotting a perfect murder.

The story ends in the same way as other computer-related fictions, in that Ducky

saves civilization by finding and turning off the only logic capable of doing this.

1.5 Ethical lessons from the creation of humans and robotic fiction

What do these myths about creation narratives and the creation of robots teach

us?

1.5.1 Community and relationship

The creation narrative is about relationship. In Genesis 1:26-27 we read:

17 Murray Leinster, Logic Named Joe (Simon & Schuster Canada, 2005). 17

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

”Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

In the context of the Jewish monotheistic authorship of this writing, it is

interesting that God says, “Let us make man in our image,” instead of saying, “Let me

make man in my image.” Why does God speak in the plural? Many scholars have

researched this issue, and from the time of Philo, most Jewish commentators agree that

plural is used because God is addressing his heavenly court which includes the angels

(cf. Isaiah 6:8).18 In contrast, Westermann and Jouon preferred a view that sees this as a

plural of self-deliberation.19 Cassuto, on the other hand, suggests it be seen as some sort

of self-encouragement as in the Babel account of Genesis 11:7, as well as Psalm 2:3.

Christianity has traditionally accepted this as a reference to the trinity, aligning Genesis

with the New Testament, which sees Christ as an active participant in the creation

narrative (John 1:3, 10; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2). However, it is

now universally admitted that Christ’s participation in creation is not what the plural

meant to the original author.20

18 Wenham, Durham, and Budd, Word Biblical Commentary. Vol 1: Genesis 1-15, 89. 19 Ibid, 84. 20 Ibid, 83. 18

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

The communal nature of the creation narrative stands in contrast to Victor

Frankenstein’s creation account. While the Genesis narrative goes out of the way to

present community and transparency as part of the creation of humanity, Victor

Frankenstein lives in secret and keeps his secret creation from all, including his closest

family and friends. “One secret which I alone possessed was the hope to which I had

dedicated myself; and the moon gazed on my midnight labors, while, with unrelaxed

and breathless eagerness, I pursued nature to her hiding places.”21 During this time of

research and development Victor does not share his ideas or motives with anyone. The

distance he creates from his community helps him undertake his awful and dangerous

experiment. This is a stark contrast with the way the Genesis narrative sees an entire

ecosystem put in place for the flourishing of life on earth.

God’s work beyond creation and into eternity further highlights the transparent

and communal way in which God deals with his creation, first through the children of

Israel to the time of the kings and judges. God’s dealing continues with the ultimate

sacrifice of his son Jesus for the salvation of humankind and in his giving of the Holy

Spirit at Pentecost for help, comfort, remembrance, and encouragement. The communal

nature of the Christian faith is further emphasized through the many scriptural

references to fellowship. Christians are to encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11);

21 Shelley, Frankenstein, 38. 19

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

they are not to neglect gathering together (Hebrews 10:25); two are seen as better than

one (Ecclesiastes 4:9); our fellowship is with one another, with the Father, and with the

Son (1 John 1:3); relationship is seen as mutually beneficial, as “iron sharpens iron”

(Proverbs 27:17); Jesus is present when two or three gather in his name (Matthew 18:20);

the communal nature of the Breaking of Bread (Acts 2:42); we bear one another’s

burdens (Galatians 6:2); together we are members of the body of Christ (Ephesians 5:30);

we are to restore relationships and comfort one another (2 Corinthians 13:11); we are be

devoted, honoring, and loving of one another (Romans 12:10).

Shelley highlights Victor’s social isolation as depriving him of basic sustenance,

fellowship, relief, education, and even humanity itself. Victor has no one to encourage

him, keep him accountable, or sharpen him. This contrasts sharply with Christian values

which encourage fellowship and accountability, as can be seen in texts such as

Colossians 3:16: “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and

admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the

Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”22 Victor’s life of secrecy robbed him

22 Peter Thomas. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (Waco (Texas): Word Books, 1982). 3. “The antecedents of this expression are to be found in the Old Testament where Israel was God’s holy people, (Exodus 19:6) chosen by him and appointed to his service. Having been brought into a covenant relationship with him, Israel was to be a holy nation because he is holy (Leviticus 11:44; 19:2); etc. Christians are “saints” because of the new relationship they have been brought into by God through Jesus Christ. They are set apart for him and his service; as the people of his own possession they are the called and elect community of the end-time: they are “God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved (3:12) whose lives are to be characterized by godly behavior.” 20

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

of the privilege of close community and the admonition he should have received

therefrom. The result of this isolation is catastrophic in that Victor never enjoyed the

wisdom of “safety in the multitude of counsellors” (Prov. 11:14).

Victor abandons his creation at birth, a dramatic contrast to the biblical narrative and

promises made by God, the creator, to his creation. Even in the darkest pit, God

promises his presence (cf. Gen. 39:2). The promises God gives to his creation in Romans

8:38-39 are deeply reassuring: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor

rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor

anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ

Jesus our Lord.” God sets up his creation for relationship and then establishes a set of

principles and guidelines for the safety and prosperity of that creation. Victor

Frankenstein, on the other hand, abandons his creation at birth without offering it even

the chance of assimilating into society or guiding it into becoming a functional “being.”

Instead, he relegates it to isolation and to becoming a monster much like himself. These

two fundamental issues of isolation and abandonment raise ethical issues that make

Frankenstein a cautionary tale for technologists and scientists:

1.5.2 State of the human heart

The Heart is Deceitful Above all Things, and Desperately Sick; Who can

Understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9). Shelley’s subtitle to the story, “The Modern Prometheus”

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

is telling. In Greek mythology, the possible meaning of Prometheus is “forethought.”23

He is also known as a cultural hero and trickster credited with the creation of humanity

from clay. He is presented as defying the gods by stealing fire and giving it to humans.24

Prometheus is punished to eternal torment by Zeus for this theft. A comparison between

Victor and Prometheus is apt because Victor’s intent fails to be that of scientific enquiry

or knowledge. In his words, “Our family was not scientifical.”25 Instead he is motivated

by the glory and fame he might achieve in creating life and defying death:

“My dreams were therefore undisturbed by reality; and I entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher’s stone and the elixir of life. But the latter obtained my most undivided attention: wealth was an inferior object; but what glory would attend the discovery, if I could banish disease from the human frame, and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!”26

His desire for fame and glory encompasses the whole of Victor Frankenstein’s

life:

“I must not omit to record those events which led, by insensible steps to my after tale of misery: for when I would account to myself for the birth of that passion, which afterwards ruled my destiny, I find it arise, like a mountain river, from ignoble and almost forgotten sources; but, swelling as it proceeded, it became the torrent which, in its course, has swept away all my hopes and joys. Natural philosophy is the genius that has regulated my fate; I desire therefore, in this narration, to state those facts which led to my predilection for that science.”27

23 William Smith, A New Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, Mythology and Geography, Partly Based upon the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. (London, 1873). 24 William F. Hansen, Classical Mythology: A Guide to the Mythical World of the Greeks and Romans (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2005), 32, 48-50, 69-73, 93, 96, 102-104, 140, 310. 25 Shelley, Frankenstein, 22. 26 Ibid, 22-23. 27 Ibid, 20. 22

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

The intent of his heart is in focus here, revealing the purpose behind this

obsessive pursuit of his. The Bible issues clear warnings in this regard as can be seen in

Jeremiah 17:9-10:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

Craigie, Kelley, and Drinkard comment on this:

“The contrast these two verses speak are the very contrast of the entire unit: deceitful, sinful humanity in contrast to a holy and just God. Indeed, the heart is deceitful and incurably sick. (On the sick heart, cf. Jer. 8:18, where the reference is to heartsickness from grief over Judah‘s sin.) Because it is so deceitful, the poet wonders who may know it? From human perspective it may seem that no one can know the inscrutable heart of a person who is deliberately deceitful. Yet the answer is swift in coming. Yahweh knows! Yahweh is the one who searches the heart and tests the inward parts of humankind.”28

Apart from Shelley’s allusions to the Christian faith, her character, Victor

Frankenstein, uses words from the Book of Common Prayer, allowing the reader to

consider whether he may actually be a Christian, or at least have knowledge of the

Christian faith:

28 Peter C. Craigie and Gerald L. Keown, Jeremiah 1-25, vol. 26, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas, Texas: Word Books, 1998), 283. 23

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

“A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs. Pursuing these reflections, I thought, that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body29 to corruption.”30

This makes Victor’s pursuit all the more dangerous, not only in this life but also

in eternity. Everyone to whom much has been entrusted, much more will be demanded

(Luke 12:48). Empathy, care, and sacrifice are basic tenets of Christian faith. None of

these can be seen in Victor’s behavior. Apart from the “yellow eyes,” Victor doesn’t even

describe his creation. The information we have of this creation comes from Walton who

says, “in color and apparent texture like that of a mummy.”31 By abandoning the voyage,

Walton is also presented as one who chooses the safety of his crew over personal

ambition, glory, and discovery.32 While Victor shows a disregard for his fellow humans,

failing to even consider the impact of his creation on them, Walton’s actions demonstrate

his care for the worth and value of human life.

1.5.3 Boundlessness of God

Great is our Lord and Abundant in Strength; His Understanding is Infinite

(Psalm 147:5). Scriptures refer to God’s omniscience (Psalm 147:5; John 21:17; Hebrews

29 Cf. Church of England, The Book of Common Prayer (Ebury Press, 1992), 485. Shelley appears to be making reference to the burial rite. 30 Shelley, Frankenstein, 37. 31 Ibid, 183. 32 Ibid, 179. 24

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

4:12-13; 1 John 3:20), meaning everything God does has an intelligent purpose and end.

God knows everything about himself, the details of events on earth, and the future (1

Samuel 10:2; 1 Kings 13:1-4; 2 Kings 8:12; Psalm 139:4; Acts 2:23, 4:27-28).

This character and attributes of God, the supreme attribute being the love of

God, stands in contrast to the actions of Victor in the way he creates the monster, and

the deadly effects it has on his community and himself. Paul defines love as the

instinctive ability to protect and provide for the other as you would your own self. The

Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, the entirety of the precepts laid out in the Bible are

meant for provision and protection of the human race that God created. The narrative

culminates in the ultimate act of love with Christ giving his own life for those he loved.

The church has a role to play in defining how technology and its application in artificial

intelligence is developed in the years to come.

1.6 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s noosphere

It has been noted that much of the AI-related fiction that follows seems to be

rooted in the theological writing of French idealist, philosopher and Jesuit priest, Pierre

Teilhard De Chardin entitled, The Phenomenon of Man, written in 1930 but

posthumously published in 1955.33 Borrowing Huxley’s expression, Teilhard describes

33 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1961). 25

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

humans as an evolution toward becoming conscious of itself.34 In contemporary

conceptions of AI, this natural or biological intelligence, which becomes conscious of

itself, is carried over to artificial intelligence, which then also becomes conscious of itself

in computing fiction that gets published after 1950. Teilhard integrates the scientific

imagery of evolution with eschatological visions. He contends that the world will

progress due to science and technology to a point where individual human

consciousness will transcend itself, becoming a communal unity of mind. He calls it the

Omega Point—expressed in Christ, where love is expressed in its fullness.35

“We are today witnessing a truly explosive growth of technology and research, bringing an increasing mastery, both theoretical and practical, of the secrets and sources of cosmic energy at every level and in every form; and, correlative with this, the rapid heightening of what I have called the psychic temperature of the earth. A single glance at the overall picture of surface chaos is enough to assure us that this is so. We see a human tide bearing us upward with all the force of a contracting star; not a spreading tide, as we might suppose, but one that is rising: the ineluctable growth of our horizon of a true state of ‘ultra-humanity.’”36

With technological automation of surplus human tasks, Teilhard claims that

humanity is now freer to reflect upon the universe and its place within it. Unification,

technification, and a growing rationalization will lead the human race to transcend itself

in an event he calls “anthropogenesis.”37 John Polkinghorne picks up Teilhard’s Omega

34 Ibid, 220. 35 Ibid, 320-22. 36 Ibid, 275-76. 37 Ibid, 227-37. 26

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Point as represented in scientific evolutionary language, as well as linked religiously to

the second coming of Christ.38 Proponents of Cyberspace39 have picked up Teilhard’s

concept of creation and of life evolving toward some purposeful end. Teilhard's

noosphere is a vision that captures the essence of cyberspace and its internet component.

The noosphere, from the Greek nous for “mind,” is seen as the materialization of a

global consciousness, which results in earth being clothed in a “new skin” and even a

“soul.” Teilhard speaks to its coming in terms of fire: “A glow ripples outwards from the

first spark of conscious reflection. The point of ignition grows larger. The fire spreads in

ever widening circles till finally the whole planet is covered with incandescence.”40

Mark Pesce and Jennifer Cobb claim that cyberspace creates Teilhard’s

noosphere. According to Cobb, Cyberspace manifests Teilhard’s concepts of

interiorization and organization. For Teilhard, interiorization is the spiritual energy that

allows an individual’s thoughts and ideas to interpenetrate with other individuals to

create a wider consciousness. By contrast, organization talks of the social processes that

give birth to, and support, the emergence of the noosphere.41 Pesce thinks the web is

38 J. C. Polkinghorne, Science and Theology: An Introduction (London; Minneapolis, Minn.: SPCK; Fortress Press, 1998), 22, 118. 39 Cyberspace is seen by some as an “emergent phenomenon” with the interaction of its various components giving rise, for some, to a new, unforeseen wonder that transcends its components, and sometimes, goes beyond purely physical laws. See Margaret Wertheim, The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace: A History of Space from Dante to the Internet (New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1999), 227. 40 Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man, 202. 41 Jennifer J. Cobb, Cybergrace: The Search for God in the Digital World (New York: Crown, 1998), 85-87. 27

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

merely part of Teilhard’s prophecy. He posits, then, that perhaps cyberspace forms a

part of our evolution as human beings, in much the same way as the development of our

eyes, hands, and brains.42

In Asimov's, The Last Question,43 he introduces the idea of an evolving computer

that absorbs humanity. He writes, "One by one man fused with AC (alternate current),

each physical body losing its mental identity in a manner that was somehow not a loss

but a gain," implying that man can then become God. This was also hinted at in John

Varley's Millennium.44 It has become part of the ongoing gospel of the Singularity,

evidenced by Ken McLeod's novels The Star Fraction (1995) and the Cassini Division

(1998), and Charles Stross's Accelerando (2005) and Singularity Sky (2003), among

others.45 Note that all of these were quite possibly originally influenced by the

publication of Teilhard De Chardin's theological work The Phenomenon of Man, which

first posited the “Omega Point,” as the notion that all matter (and humanity especially)

were evolving toward a union with God. Asimov's twist was that the mechanism for

doing so would be our computers.

42 Mark Pesce, The Playful World: How Technology Is Transforming Our Imagination (New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 2000), 170. 43 Isaac Asimov, The Best of Isaac Asimov (New York: Ballantine Books, 1982). 44 John Varley, Millenium (Berkley, 1983). 45 Ken MacLeod, The Star Fraction (London: Orbit, 2004); The Cassini Division (London: Orbit, 2004); Charles Stross, Singularity Sky (London: Orbit, 2005); Accelerando (London: Orbit, 2006). 28

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Lester Del Ray's The Runaway Robot first captured the idea that a computer (or a

robot in this case) could accidently become sentient.46 Del Ray just barely managed to

eke past the better, more thoughtful novel by Robert Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh

Mistress, which introduced a more memorable and intelligent (in fact, supra-intelligent)

but immature computer character, Mycroft.47 The concept of a child-like artificial

intelligence being guided through ethical dilemmas and holding onto its existence in the

face of possible extinction was further explored in David Gerrold's novel When Harlie

was One.48 This idea led to the plots of the movie Short Circuit (1986) and Star Trek: The

Next Generation’s "Evolution" episode, each examining the question of "what is the value

of an intelligent life?" Star Trek explored the same question with regard to the Android,

Data, in "The Measure of a Man" and "Offspring," and it was again explored in the Star

Trek: Voyager episode "Author, Author," among others. The book, Colossus, written by

Dennis Feltham Jones,49 portrayed AI evolving a very different ethic than ours—

drawing from the themes in R.U.R. and Frankenstein—they were the direct antecedent

to Skynet of the Terminator Series (1984- ) by way of Fred Saberhagen's "Berserker"

series (1967 and onwards), Proteus IV from Demon Seed (1977), and even the Master

Control Program from Disney's Tron (1982).

46 Lester Del Rey, The Runaway Robot (New York: Scholastic Book Services, 1968). 47 Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (New York: Orb, 2005). 48 David Gerrold, When Harlie Was One (New York: Ballantine, 1975). 49 D. F. Jones, Colossus (New York: Berkeley Books, 1985). 29

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

2. Artificial intelligence and the Imago Dei

Artificial Intelligence is an application of technology. The Oxford dictionary defines

technology as scientific knowledge used in practical ways in industry, for example in

designing new machines.50 Technology was an important element in the work of Martin

Heidegger, one of the most influential philosophers in the last century. His book, The

Question Concerning Technology, is considered a ground-breaking work for its influence

on philosophy and its definition of technology. Heidegger claims: 51

a. Technology is “not an instrument,” it is a way of understanding the world; b. technology is “not a human activity,” but develops beyond human control; and c. technology is “the highest danger,” risking us to only see the world through technological thinking.

50 “Oxford Advanced American Dictionary,” accessed April 2, 2020, https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/american_english/technology. 51 Martin Heidegger and William Lovitt, The Question Concerning Technology, and Other Essays (New York; London: Harper and Row, 1977), 3-35. 30

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Figure 2-1: Heidegger’s unification of Aristotle’s causes52

Heidegger relies heavily on Aristotle’s four causes, namely, matter, form, agent

and purpose which he explains as, “four causes: the causa materialis, the

material…the causa formalis, the shape, the form of which the material

enters…the causa finalis, the end…the causa efficiens, which brings about the effect that

is the finished.”53 He explains that whoever builds a house or a ship or forges a sacrificial

chalice reveals what is to be brought forth, according to the terms of the four modes of

occasioning.54 The key question Frankenstein’s monster asks can be put through

Heidegger’s claims: “My person was hideous and my stature gigantic. What did this

mean? Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come? What was my destination?”55 The

materials used in this fiction are a mystery to us, hence the first cause, materialis, which

52 Ibid, 3. 53 Ibid. 54 Ibid, 295. 55 Shelley, Frankenstein, 143. 31

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

would not be appropriate to discuss. The monster is not simply a physical object but a

mixture of different life experiences. His first encounter with the character De Lacey

starts with an admiration of the beauty of humans.56 The monster then turns on humans

and declares war on them due to his negative experience.57 So causa efficiens are not just

his physical aspects but include his traumatizing experiences from spending time

around humans. The causa formalis raises another important issue. That the monster

cannot simply be a form of technology, “puts to nature the unreasonable demand that it

supply energy which can be extracted and stored as such.”58 According to Heidegger,

humankind’s relationship with nature is to reveal its hidden purposes in order to exploit

it for whatever it may provide, much the same way Victor’s monster finds fire left by

some beggars and it provides him warmth from cold. This may be an exploitation of

earth’s resources in a primitive way, but it’s still exploitation. Heidegger’s third cause,

causa finalis, is about the monster’s goal or purpose. There is a bifurcation in the causa

finalis of the monster. Initially it is to solve Victor’s passion for renown and glory, but

when the monster becomes aware of this, he adopts an unwavering focus on both killing

anyone linked to Victor and finding a female companion. Heidegger would call this

correctness of purpose, correct in not having the appearance of humans. Hence, he is

56 Ibid, 118. 57 Ibid, 152. 58 Heidegger and Lovitt, The Question Concerning Technology, and Other Essays, 8. 32

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

unable to live fully as human, which gives rise to the desire to gain a female companion,

an attempt to partake in a fuller human experience. According to ancient doctrine, the

essence of a thing is considered to be what the thing is. We ask that same question

concerning technology. Two common statements answer our question. One says:

technology is a means to an end. The other says: technology is a human activity. The two

definitions of technology belong together. For to posit ends and procure and utilize the

means to them is a human activity. The manufacture and utilization of equipment, tools,

and machines, the things themselves, and the needs and ends that they serve, all belong

to what technology is. The whole complex of these contrivances is technology.

Technology itself is a contrivance, or, in Latin, an instrumentum. The current conception

of technology, according to which it is a means and a human activity, can therefore be

called the instrumental and anthropological definition of technology.59

The application of technology in the advent of AI raises the question of human

dignity, value, and esteem. Applying Heidegger’s lens to a recent exposé about

Amazon’s success in the use of robots is a revealing exercise. In his article, Josh Dzieza

reveals the life of Amazon warehouse employees.

“Jake, who asked to use a pseudonym out of fear of retribution, was a “rebinner.” His job was to take an item off a conveyor belt, press a button, place the item in whatever cubby a monitor told him to, press another button, and repeat. He likened it to doing a twisting lunge every 10 seconds, nonstop, though

59 Ibid, 320. 33

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

he was encouraged to move even faster by a giant leaderboard, featuring a cartoon sprinting man, that showed the rates of the 10 fastest workers in real time. A manager would sometimes keep up a sports announcer patter over the intercom — “In third place for the first half, we have Bob at 697 units per hour,” Jake recalled. Top performers got an Amazon currency they could redeem for Amazon Echos and company T-shirts. Low performers got fired. “You’re not stopping,” Jake said. “You are literally not stopping. It’s like leaving your house and just running and not stopping for anything for 10 straight hours, just running.” After several months, he felt a burning in his back. A supervisor sometimes told him to bend his knees more when lifting. When Jake did this his rate dropped, and another supervisor would tell him to speed up. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Go faster?” he recalled saying. “If I go faster, I’m going to have a heart attack and fall on the floor.” Finally, his back gave out completely. He was diagnosed with two damaged discs and had to go on disability. The rate, he said, was “100 percent” responsible for his injury. Every Amazon worker I’ve spoken to said it’s the automatically enforced pace of work, rather than the physical difficulty of the work itself, that makes the job so grueling. Any slack is perpetually being optimized out of the system, and with it any opportunity to rest or recover. A worker on the West Coast told me about a new device that shines a spotlight on the item he’s supposed to pick, allowing Amazon to further accelerate the rate and get rid of what the worker described as “micro rests” stolen in the moment it took to look for the next item on the shelf. People can’t sustain this level of intense work without breaking down.”60

In Heidegger’s view, Amazon’s goods have multiple goals and purposes. They

reveal not just an easy to use website or access to millions of products through one-click

checkout, but serve to maximize profits for Amazon, even if that comes at the cost of

human suffering and destruction: swollen knees, damaged spinal discs, burning backs,

heart attacks, and grueling shifts. Attempts at suicide seem to be a reasonable alternative

60 Josh Dzieza, “Robots Aren’t Taking Our Jobs — They’re Becoming Our Bosses,” The Verge, February 27, 2020, https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/27/21155254/automation-robots-unemployment-jobs-vs-human- google-amazon. 34

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

to cost efficiencies, all of which contribute to the mechanization of humankind.

Ironically in Heidegger’s viewpoint, Victor’s monster is more human than Amazon’s

employees, as he has freedom to roam around, see nature, and to discover the purpose

of objects. By contrast, Amazon employees are treated as reserves to be on hand for

further ordering. The monster answers his own question, “What is my destination?” He

determines that his actions have been too destructive, leaving Walton’s ship to end his

own life. In a world dominated by companies like Amazon and being eaten by

technology,61 to ask, “what does it mean to be a human being?” Are there theological

implications to the continually evolving world of AI? Christianity’s supreme tenet about

human nature is that humans are made in the image of God: they bear the likeness of

God. This tenet has lasted thousands of years and through many cultures, languages,

and the evolution of our world. What makes humanity unique, even compared to

animals? With Heidegger’s definition of technology we will now examine the

background and progress of AI thus far, then contrast it with the progress of humans, in

light of the imago dei. The following chapter will discuss human-AI symbiosis, and

whether anything like the imago dei is conceivable for AI.

61 Marc Andreessen, "Why Software Is Eating the World," Wall Street Journal, https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111903480904576512250915629460.

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

2.1 Background and definitions

Artificial Intelligence is an intellect programmed in a robot or machine that is

smarter than the best human brains in practically every field, including scientific

creativity, problem-solving, and social skills. There is both euphoria and despair over

the idea of very intelligent machines. However, massive investments by top technology

companies and governments in the past decade or so have resulted in significant

improvements in making machines intelligent, and in some cases even

“superintelligent.” For example, computers playing checkers, backgammon, Othello,

chess, crosswords, Scrabble, bridge, Jeopardy! Poker, FreeCell, and Go have all beaten

world champions at these games.62 The concept of “superintelligence” is now a part of

colloquial vocabulary due to its coverage in the mainstream media; other media have

also started covering the progress of superintelligence powered by AI. For example, on

February 13, 2016, the Daily Mirror, a British tabloid, headlined superintelligence:

62 Hans J. Berliner, "Backgammon Computer Program Beats World Champion," Artificial Intelligence 14, no. 2 (1980); Achiya Elyasaf, Ami Hauptman, and Moshe Sipper, "Ga-Freecell: Evolving Solvers for the Game of Freecell," in Proceedings of the 13th Annual Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation (Dublin, Ireland: ACM, 2011); Danny Kopec, Jill Cirasella, "The History of Computer Games," CUNY Academic Works (2006); Garry Kasparov, "The Day That I Sensed a New Kind of Intelligence," TIME Magazine 147, no. 13 (1996); G. A. Keim et al., "Proverb: The Probabilistic Cruciverbalist," Proceedings of the National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, no. 16 (1999); John Markoff, "Computer Wins on 'Jeopardy!': Trivial, It's Not," New York Times 160, no. 55319 (2011); Jonathan Rubin and Ian Watson, "Computer Poker: A Review," ARTINT Artificial Intelligence 175, no. 5-6 (2011); A. L. Samuel, "Some Studies in Machine Learning Using the Game of Checkers," IBM J. Res. & Dev. IBM Journal of Research and Development 3, no. 3 (1959); Brian Sheppard, "World-Championship-Caliber Scrabble," Artificial intelligence 134, no. 1 (2002). Server, KGS Go. "KGS Game Archives: Games of KGS player zen19." Retrieved July 22 (2012): 2013. 36

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

“Robots to take 50% of our jobs by 2050 and outperform humans at almost anything.”63

Such headlines may sensationalize the issue and get more clicks on the tabloid’s website.

But other developments such as the GoogleGO AI machine beating the world master

Lee Se-dol at Go64 and Facebook replacing humans with machines to write its trending

news section gives credence to the emerging concerns around AI and its implications.65

Given the progress and reporting on superintelligence, the issue to be addressed is: how

should Christians think of superintelligence and its impact on human life through the

lens of Christian ethics? The terms and concepts used to discuss superintelligence lack

clarity and precision. Instead of attempting to explain them all, I will limit my discussion

to the concepts of computer programming, AI, superintelligence, and singularity.

2.1.1 Computer programming

Computer programming is “the craft of writing useful, maintainable, and

extensible source code which can be interpreted or compiled by a computing system to

perform a meaningful task. Programming a computer can be performed in one of

numerous languages, ranging from a higher-level language to a low-level machine code

63 Andrew Gregory, "Robots 'to Take 50% of Our Jobs by 2050 and Outperform Humans at Almost Anything’," Daily Mirror, http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/robots-to-take-50-jobs-7363442. 64 Sam Byford, "Google’s AplhaGo Ai Beats Lee Se-dol Again to Win Go Series 4-1," The Verge, https://www.theverge.com/2016/3/15/11213518/alphago-deepmind-go-match-5-result. 65 Joon Ian Wong, Dave Gershgorn and Mike Murphy., "Facebook Is Trying to Get Rid of Bias in Trending News by Getting Rid of Humans," Quartz, http://qz.com/768122/facebook-fires-human-editors-moves-to- algorithm-for-trending-topics. 37

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

which is code that more directly controls the specifics of the computer's hardware, and

microcode which directly controls the electronics in the computer.”66

2.1.2 Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is apparently exhibited by machines or software. It is

also the name of the academic field of study of creating computers and computer

software that are capable of intelligent behavior. Major AI researchers and textbooks

define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents," in which an intelligent

agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its

chances of success. 67 John McCarthy, who coined the term in 1955, defines it as “the

science and engineering of making intelligent machines.”68

2.1.3 Superintelligence

Superintelligence signifies that an electronic agent may possess intelligence far

exceeding that of the smartest human being. I. J. Good, chief statistician in Alan Turing's

66 "Computer Programming Wikibooks contributors, " Wikibooks, The Free Textbook Project, "Computer Programming," Wikibooks, https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Computer_Programming. 67 Stuart Jonathan Russell and Peter Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, vol. 2 (Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2003), 27, 32-58, 968-72; George F. Luger and William A. Stubblefield, Artificial Intelligence: Structures and Strategies for Complex Problem Solving, 5th ed. (Redwood City, CA: Benjamin Cummings, 2004), 235-40; David Poole, Alan Mackworth, and Randy Goebel, Computational Intelligence: A Logical Approach (New York; Oxford: Oxford Univ. Pr., 1998), 7-21; Marcus Hutter, Universal Artificial Intelligence: Sequential Decisions Based on Algorithmic Probability (Berlin: Springer, 2005), 125-26. 68 Daniel Crevier, Ai: The Tumultuous History of the Search for Artificial Intelligence (New York: Basic Books, 1993), 50; John McCarthy, "What Is Artificial Intelligence?”, Stanford University, Computer Science Department, http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/whatisai/whatisai.html. 38

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

code-breaking team in World War II, first explained the concept of machines matching

human likeness and intelligence in 1965. He states:

“Let an ultraintelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man, however clever. Since the design of machines is one of these intellectual activities, an ultraintelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an "intelligence explosion," and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus, the first ultraintelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make, provided that the machine is docile enough to tell us how to keep it under control.”69

Vernor Vinge and Ray Kurzweil popularized the idea of a coming technological

singularity—the hypothesis that the invention of artificial superintelligence will

abruptly trigger runaway technological growth, resulting in unfathomable changes to

human civilization.70 They characterize a scenario wherein machines reproduce their

superior versions without any intervention from humans, and at speeds beyond human

control. Some see positive outcomes from this development. Economist Robin Hansen

argues that when a hypothetical singularity is realized, the doubling of the world

69 Irving John Good, "Speculations Concerning the First Ultraintelligent Machine," Advances in Computers 6 (1966). 70 Vernor Vinge, "The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era," in Vision- 21: Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in the Era of Cyberspace (Westlake, Ohio: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1993), 11-22; Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (New York: Viking, 2005). 39

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

economy will take only 6.3 years, compared to such doubling taking 224,000 years for

hunter-gatherers and 909 years for the farming society.71

2.2 Current progress of AI

If artificial intelligence is to match, exceed, or replace humans, then several

questions need to be addressed. What is Artificial Intelligence? What is a human being?

How are humans different from animals and other creatures? What makes human

beings unique? Does the biblical idea of the imago dei (image of God) apply to AI or

forms of AI? What does it mean to be an Image bearer in the context of imago dei?

According to John Mallery, the term “AI-Complete” was proposed by Fanya

Montalvo in the 1980s.72 A somewhat general definition of the term included in the 1991

Jargon File states: “AI-Complete: [MIT, Stanford, by analogy with `NP-complete'] adj.

Used to describe problems or subproblems in AI, to indicate that the solution

presupposes a solution to the `strong AI problem' (that is, the synthesis of a human-level

intelligence). A problem that is AI-complete is, in other words, just too hard. Examples

of AI-complete problems are `The Vision Problem,' building a system that can see as

well as a human, and `The Natural Language Problem,' building a system that can

71 Robin Hanson, "Shall We Vote on Values, but Bet on Beliefs? Shall We Vote on Values, but Bet on Beliefs?”, Journal of Political Philosophy 21, no. 2 (2013). 72 John C. Mallery, "Thinking About Foreign Policy: Finding an Appropriate Role for Artificially Intelligent Computers" (The 1988 Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, St. Louis, MO, 1988). 40

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

understand and speak a natural language as well as a human. These may appear to be

modular, but all attempts so far (1991) to solve them have foundered on the amount of

context, information, and `intelligence' they seem to require.”73

Intelligent agents, robotics, self-learning, and self-healing algorithms will

support the evolution of the human race, including physical, mental, and meta-physical

impacts for some, even providing the ability to recreate or augment the human brain

and mind using silicon chips. In the light of this, the Jargon File is a limiting definition in

that, though computer science and powerful algorithms influence AI, the definition does

not acknowledge areas of cognitive science such as psychology, neuroscience, and

philosophy. Carnegie Mellon University’s AI department defines AI simply: “AI must

understand the human needs and it must make smart design decisions based on that

understanding. Built from technologies called AI Stack.”74

73 Eric S. Raymond, "Jargon File Version 2.8.2," http://catb.org/esr/jargon/oldversions/jarg282.txt; The New Hacker's Dictionary (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2002). Jargon file is a glossary and usage dictionary of slang used by computer programmers. It was published in paperback form in 1983 as "The Hacker's Dictionary", edited by Guy Steele. 74 Carnegie Mellon University Artificial Intelligence, "About," Carnegie Mellon University, https://ai.cs.cmu.edu/about. Included in Appendix A. 41

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Thinking Humanly Thinking Rationally “The exciting new effort to make “The study of mental faculties computers think… machines with through the use of computational minds, in the full and literal models.” sense.”

“[The automation of] activities “The study of the computations that we associate with human that make it possible to perceive, thinking, activities such as reason and act.” decision-making, problem solving, learning…” Acting Humanly Acting Rationally “The art of creating machines that “Computational Intelligence is the perform functions that require study of the design of intelligent intelligence when performed by agents.” people.”

“the study of how to make “AT … is concerned with computers do things at which, at intelligent behavior in artifacts.” the moment, people are better.”

Figure 2-2: Russell and Norvig’s Four Forms of Artificial Achievement75

In their textbook, Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig show that the overall goal of

making systems that function as humans do is only one of four significant approaches to

artificial intelligence. In figure 2.1. above, they identify two axes around which

definitions tend to order themselves, showing distinction between thoughts versus

75 Russel Stuart defines Artificial Intelligence as "Intelligence demonstrated by machines, in contrast to natural intelligence displayed by humans and animals. Russell and Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, 2. 42

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

actions. AI must be able to think or understand like humans and then in return, based

on that thought or understanding, be able to behave like humans. Those that measure

success in terms of how like a human being a system performs fail at one end, while

those that look for systems that behave according to an ideal concept of intelligence,

which they call rationality, fail on the other end. The latter concept is observed as a

system correctly performing the task at hand, regardless of how human-like it is in its

approach or appearance.76

Stephen Garner claims that the development and deployment of AI, especially in

the area of medicine and neurology, has given hope to those suffering from Parkinson’s

disease or multiple sclerosis and has given sight perception to those suffering from

blindness.77 Experimental AI implants are being developed that allow computers to be

controlled in a limited way by the operator’s thoughts. 78 Such developments excite the

likes of Kurzweil, who says that at some point in the future the distinction between

machine and human will no longer matter.79 Rodney Brooks is more pessimistic about

the progress of getting there:

76 Russell and Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, 2, 4-5. 77 Stephen Robert Garner, "Transhumanism and the Imago Dei: Narratives of Apprehension and Hope" (University of Auckland, 2006). 78 Jerry Woodfill, "The Best of Nasa's Spinoffs," NASA, https://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/spinoff.html; National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, "Deep Brain Stimulation for Movement Disorders Information Page," https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/All-Disorders/Deep-Brain-Stimulation-Movement- Disorders-Information-Page; Ingrid Wickelgren, "Mind over Matter," https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2006/07/mind-over-matter. 79 Ray Kurzweil, "The Coming Merging of Mind and Machine," Scientific American Presents (1999): 56. 43

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

When AI got started the clear inspiration was human level performance and human level intelligence. I think that goal has been what attracted most researchers into the field for the first sixty years. The fact that we do not have anything close to succeeding at those aspirations says not that researchers have not worked hard or have not been brilliant. It says that it is a very hard goal.80

Commenting on the faith of many researchers in this field, he goes on to say:

They think that intelligent robots will provide a path to immortality. They expect that before they die the technology will be available that will let them download their consciousness into a computer or robot and they will be able to live in this form forever.81

Kurzweil and Hans Moravec argue that brain scanning might eventually lead to

being able to recreate the brain’s organization on a computer. Kurzweil predicts that in

the 2030s we will be able to create the models that recreate brains in silicon.82 However,

Brook’s words of caution seem to come true. A much-hyped project that IBM sold to MD

Anderson Cancer Center to eradicate cancer had to be cancelled. MD Anderson paid

IBM $62 million and dedicated countless man hours of medical staff to make the cancer-

healing AI a success. Even Scientific American bought into it: the magazine gave the

project more publicity by publishing an article on IBM Chief Technology Officer Rob

High and financier Jho Low (now on the run from law enforcement), whose foundation

80 Rodney Brooks, "The Origins of “Artificial Intelligence”," Rodney Brooks, https://rodneybrooks.com/forai- the-origins-of-artificial-intelligence/. 81 Rodney A. Brooks, Robot: The Future of Flesh and Machines (London: Allen Lane: Penguin Press, 2002), 204. 82 Kurzweil, "The Coming Merging of Mind and Machine," 60. 44

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

funded the project.83 David Howard, a faculty member in the Department of Health

Policy and Management at Emory University, commented on the AI project: “IBM spun

a story about how Watson could improve cancer treatment that was superficially

plausible,” he wrote. “Artificial intelligence has been suffering from overhype since the

1970s and 1980s,” said Steven Salzberg, a professor of biomedical engineering at the

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. “Be skeptical and ask to see some evidence.

[Technology companies] need to do more than simply assert that it works.”84

With billions of dollars poured into AI research by Facebook, the company still

keeps hiring thousands of human fact-checkers to handle fake news.85 Automation

through AI is not on the horizon yet. Dominic Basulto, a digital thinker at Bond Strategy

and Influence, laments that Artificial intelligence (AI) researchers are creating advanced

forms of machine learning that rival human intelligence; engineers and designers

are printing tissues, bones and organs using 3D printers; biologists are creating entirely

new "synthetic" life forms and medical researchers are creating radical new

enhancements for the human body in which man and machine essentially become one.

83 Rob High and Jho Low to MIND Guest Blog, 4 September, 2014, https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/expert-cancer-care-may-soon-be-everywhere-thanks- to-watson/. 84 Mary Chris Jaklevic, "Md Anderson Cancer Center’s IBM Watson Project Fails, and So Did the Journalism Related to It," Health News Review, https://www.healthnewsreview.org/2017/02/md-anderson-cancer-centers- IBM-watson-project-fails-journalism-related/. 85 Hannah Kuchler, "How Facebook Grew Too Big to Handle," Financial Times, https://www.ft.com/content/be723754-501c-11e9-9c76-bf4a0ce37d49. 45

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Regardless of one’s stance on creationism, intelligent design, or evolution, these new

“god machines,” re-open the eternal existential questions: what is the origin of life?

What does it mean to be alive? Is AI alive, or can the category of “alive” be assigned to

AI? What is the purpose of life?86 Such arenas of anxiety deserve theological reflection

and discussion of the doctrine of imago dei so as to understand how AI integrates with

humans and the place of humans in a technology-led world.

2.3 Imago Dei

The Bible has very few references that discuss the doctrine of the imago dei,

however, its voice is clear and direct, leaving no doubt about the idea of human beings

being made in the Image of God. In the creation account in Genesis 1:26-28, God creates

human beings, both male and female, in his image and likeness, unique compared to

other creatures:

“Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’ So, God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’”

86 Dominic Basulto, "How We’re Playing God Now," Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/post/how-were-playing-god- now/2012/06/29/gJQAuxbeBW_blog.html. 46

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

The words “image” and “likeness” of God somehow offer humans a unique

place within the created order. Another much-cited reference is Psalm 8:3-8:

“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.”

2.3.1 Positive or liberating meanings of the Imago Dei

In his commentary, Gordon Wenham shows that the word “image” appears only

seventeen times in the Hebrew scriptures, with ten of those referring to physical images

and idols, as in Numbers 33:52, images of tumors in 1 Samuel 6:5, and images of men as

in Ezekiel 16:17. Psalms 39:6 and 73:20 refer to human existence as an image or a

shadow. The rest of the references are in the passages discussed above in Genesis, and

stand as foundational to the understanding of the imago dei.87 Wenham continues to

explain that the word “image” used in the Genesis texts moves from a concrete image to

an abstract one.88 He, however, emphasizes the “opaqueness” of the original meaning to

both ancient and modern readers of Genesis.89 To relate concrete likeness, the verb “to be

like, resemble” is used to denote an object like a plan or model (e.g. 1 Kings 16:10).90

87 Wenham, Durham, and Budd, Word Biblical Commentary. Vol 1: Genesis 1-15, 29. 88 Ibid. 89 Ibid. 90 Ibid. 47

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Human beings made in God’s image are common in the ancient Near Eastern writings,

but in those myths they are reserved for monarchy, royalty, and the Marduks of the

Mesopotamian religion. Wenham impacted the idea of imago dei in modern Christendom

through the three questions he asks:

Questions raised by Gordon Views formed as a result Wenham on Genesis 1:26-27 1 What are the implications of Image is substantive, reflecting God in God speaking in plural (us and the physical, psychological and our) in Genesis 1:26? metaphysical areas of the human being. 2 Do prepositions used in Genesis Image is relational – both in respect to 1, “in” and “according”, have relationship with God and relationship specific meaning or force? with fellow humans. 3 Is there a difference in meaning Image is shown functionally, in that between the terms “image” and human beings act as God or God’s “likeness”? agents in the world because they are created in the image of God. Figure 2-3: Wenham’s Questions Surrounding the Imago Dei89

In the New Testament, the word for “image” appears twenty-three times, while

the word for “likeness” appears only once. Of the twenty-three times that the word

“image” is written in the New Testament, Gerald Bray clarifies that the ten references in

Revelation and the one in Hebrews are irrelevant to the image of God discourse.

Matthew 22:20, Mark 12:16, and Luke 20:24 refer to Caesar’s image as a comparison

between God and Caesar, as opposed to a discussion on the imago dei.91 Prohibition of

91 Gerald Bray, "The Significance of God’s Image in Man," Tyndale Bulletin 42, no. 2 (1991): 203, 09-10. 48

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

violence against humans is in view in James 3:9, which is consistent in a spiritual sense

with the prohibition of shedding human blood in Genesis 9:6.92

Paul uses the word, “image,“ nine times in his letters (Romans 1:23, 8:29, 1

Corinthians 11:7, 15:45-49, 2 Corinthians 3:18, 4:4, Colossians 1:15, 3:9-10). Christ being

the true and perfect image of God is in view in all these references. While the Old

Testament uses the word “image” to highlight likeness between the divine and

humankind, the New Testament uses the same word to point out the distance between

the divine and humankind (or the distance from the garden of Eden). The oneness of

God and Christ is highlighted in the New Testament. With the use of the word “image”

it presents the only hope for humankind to bridge this distance through bodily

resurrection. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:45-49:

“Thus it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living being’; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.”

The doctrine of the imago dei gained steam throughout the history of the Church.

To highlight a few examples here, the trinity is how Augustine (354-430 CE) understood

the imago dei, especially in his reading of Genesis 1’s plural: “Let us make.” He is

92 Ibid, 210. 49

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

attracted to both rational and relational elements of the trinity. This capacity, he insists,

is given by God to humans to relate to Him.93 The logic chip inside the computing device

that powers AI is a rational processing unit. The rational element of the trinity that

Augustine highlights brings our discussion of AI possessing human elements a lot

closer. If rationality is image-bearing, then synthetic systems that are rational may also

to some degree bear the image. This question raises significant ethical issues, which will

be discussed later. Martin Luther (1483-1546), in his commentary on Genesis 1:26, states:

“Therefore, my understanding of the image of God is this: that Adam had it in his being and that he not only knew God and believed that He was good, but that he also lived in a life that was wholly godly; that is, he was without the fear of death or of any other danger, and was content with God’s favor.”94

Luther focuses on the loss, as a result of the fall, of the imago dei in its every sense,

such as the capacity for language and description.95

“Therefore, that image of God was something most excellent, in which were included eternal life, everlasting freedom from fear, and everything that is good. However, through sin this image was so obscured and corrupted that we cannot grasp it with our intellect.”96

Luther’s restoration of the imago dei is only through the new birth in Christ for

those who participate in Christ’s righteousness and life. His restored imago dei is only

93 Mary T. Clark, Augustine: Outstanding Christian Thinkers (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1994), 33. 94 Martin Luther and Jaroslav J. Pelikan, Lectures on Genesis: Chapters 1-5 (Saint Louis: Concordia, 1958), 62- 63. 95 Ibid, 63. 96 Ibid, 65. 50

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

found in the consummation of the kingdom of God.97 Another important aspect of

Luther is his distinction of the soul from the body or flesh. For him, the soul is superior

to the flesh, as it is immortal and to be equated with the concept of spirit.98

During the Enlightenment, understanding of the universe and human beings

underwent a significant shift. Rationality and morality took center stage in the

understanding of the imago dei. This in turn placed humans in the spotlight of those

responsible and accountable to shape the world.99 Francis Bacon (1561-1626) is called the

father of empiricism for his work in inductive reasoning and careful observation of

nature.100 David Noble argues that Bacon is responsible for the roots of the modern

techno-cultural society that developed post-Enlightenment.101 The rationalist method of

problem-solving was influenced by René Descartes (1596-1650). He asserted that human

bias made empirical knowledge less reliable as compared to mathematical knowledge,

which is certain. His methods of reducing problems to smaller sub-problems, ranking

ideas simplest to most complex, and ensuring nothing was omitted, but all items were

addressed were influential in the age of reason.102 Humanity’s place in the world was

97 Ibid, 64-65. 98 Ibid, 1.15.2. 99 Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment (London; New York: Verso, 1997), 3. 100 Thomas Fowler, Bacon (London: Low, 1887), 346. 101 David F. Noble, The Religion of Technology: The Divinity of Man and the Spirit of Invention (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997), 48-53. 102 Justo L. González, A History of Christian Thought (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1970-1975), 293-97. 51

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

further altered with the shift from earth being the center of the universe to the sun being

the center, as reinforced by Galileo. God’s power versus human ability to change and

transform the world is best articulated by Blaise Pascal (1623-1662):

“Man is only a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a thinking reed. There is no need for the whole universe to take up arms to crush him: a vapor, a drop of water is enough to kill him. But even if the universe was to crush him, man would still be nobler than his slayer, because he knows that he is dying and the advantage the universe has over him. The universe knows none of this.”103

Pascal highlights the dichotomy between humans’ ability to understand

themselves and the universe and also their ability to feast on the wretchedness of the

world.104 He balanced the tension in these words:

“It is dangerous to explain too clearly to man how like he is to the animals without pointing out his greatness. It is also dangerous to make too much of his greatness without his vileness. It is still more dangerous to leave him in ignorance of both, but it is most valuable to represent both to him. Man must not be allowed to believe that he is equal either to animals or to angels, not to be unaware of either, but he must know both.”105

Is the divine, the unique, and the great in humanity quantifiable? How are these

affected in human nature by sin and the fall? Are these to be imaged in AI as humans

pursue their quest? Pascal comments further:

“One is that man in the state of his creation, or in the state of grace, is exalted above the whole of nature, made like unto God and sharing in his divinity. The other is that in the state of corruption and sin he has fallen from that first state

103 Blaise Pascal and A. J. Krailsheimer, Pensees, trans. A.J. Krailsheimer, Revised ed. (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1995), 66. 104 Ibid, 31. 105 Ibid. 52

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

and has become like the beasts. Scripture openly declares this when it says in certain places: My delights were with the sons of men – I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh – Ye are gods, while saying in others: All flesh is grass – Man is like the beasts that perish – I said in my heart concerning the estate of the sons of men. When it is clearly evident that man through grace is made like unto God and shares his divinity, and without grace he is treated like the beast of the field.”106

Pascal talks of the division of the human body from the imago dei. The body in

turn becomes an object for the mind. Whereas the body is attached to the creation or the

material, the imago dei drives the person to look beyond the material and finite. Those

that seek will encounter and enter into a relationship with the transcendent God.107 Can

AI cross over beyond the material and finite? The image of God is both the greatest

strength of humanity and its greatest weakness, with the chance of arrogance

developing along with its finitude.108 Bearing God’s image is not just a fact, it is a

vocation, says N.T. Wright.109 Wright is a proponent of the functional view of the imago

dei. Based on the concept of “building for the kingdom” which is grounded in the

functional understanding of the imago dei, Wright argues for Christians to be involved in

justice, beauty, and evangelism.110 Meanwhile, Millard Erickson claims that the image of

God must be seen in terms of structure rather than function or relationship. The

106 Ibid. 107 Ibid, 165-66. 108 Ibid, 78-79, 166. 109 N. T. Wright, The Challenge of Jesus (2015), 183. 110 Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (New York: HarperOne, 2014), 207-32. 53

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

universality of the image means that it must be something that humans are, rather than

something they have or do.111 The visible capacities of relationship, introspection,

thought, and free will in humans is what makes us bear the imago dei.112 Gregory

Peterson tries to include other creatures in the world through the idea of consciousness:

“Other animals certainly do not have the kind of self-consciousness that we have. But evidence from cognitive ethnology suggests that the mode of discourse should shift away from absolute claims to uniqueness to the kind of uniqueness we have as well as to the ways we are similar and dissimilar to other organisms in the world.”113

Humans share 98% of their DNA with Chimpanzees.114 AI will exceed the

knowledge (memory storage), intellect, and rational capability of humans. So, where

would the imago dei be located physically? Ted Peters asks if human DNA is sacred. Is

the sanctity of DNA part of the human makeup?115 What is the alpha and omega of

Image-bearing?

In discussing the resemblance between images versus what is a real copy,

Gerhard von Rad adds to the discussion on “the likeness” in Genesis 1:27.116 His focus

turns on the word “dominion,” especially over animals, in image-bearing: “The close

111 Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1983), 513. 112 Ibid, 513-14. 113 Gregory R. Peterson, Minding God: Theology and the Cognitive Sciences (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003), 121-37. 114 Malcolm A. Jeeves, Human Nature at the Millennium: Reflections on the Integration of Psychology and Christianity (Grand Rapids, Mich.; Leicester, UK: Baker Books; Apollos, 1997), 140-41. 115 Ted Peters, “Is Our DNA Sacred?”, Response 26, no. 7 (2004), https://spu.edu/depts/uc/response/summer2k4/dna.html. 116 Gerhard von Rad, Genesis: A Commentary (London: SCM Press, 1963), 55-56. 54

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

relation of the term for God’s image with that for the commission to exercise dominion

emerges quite clearly when we have understood “celem” (image) as a plastic image.”117

The imago dei within a social context is stressed by many theologians, including

Erickson, who states that the Godhead is a social community, demonstrated by

humanity’s creation as male and female.118 Karl Barth argues:

“But the divine form of life, repeated in the man created by Him, consists in that which is the obvious aim of the ‘Let us.’ In God’s own being and sphere there is a counterpart: a genuine but harmonious self-encounter and self-discovery; a free co-existence and cooperation; an open confrontation and reciprocity.”119

There is a sense of partnership, openness, encounter, and discovery in the most

authentic manner in the universality of the imago dei. The reality of one’s relationship

with God always exists, whether that relationship is positive, with the person turning to

God, or negative, turning away from God.120 With AI and associated technologies being

rolled out, what does it mean to be a relational being? The entire point of the cross and

the Church is to heal relationships both with God and fellow mankind and to enjoy

these relationships to live a life of knowledge and wisdom. The Eucharist marks the

climax for relational and communal beings.

117 Ibid, 58. 118 Erickson, Christian Theology, 505. 119 Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics: Doctrine of Creation, trans. G.W. Bromiley and R.J. Ehrlich, vol. 3 (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1958), 185. 120 Erickson, Christian Theology, 508-09. 55

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

While social media makes “connecting” with people fluid, it also has the ability

to distract us from the real “us,” the authentic community. R.C Sproul laments,

“Are you lying? That is, is the you present on Facebook the real you? This technology has an insidious capacity to both hide reality and fool us into thinking we are both showing and seeing it. Why are our updates all about our victories— I just made cookies for the family; My son just hit the game winning home run; rather than our failures- I just shouted at my little girl; I left my computer on the airplane and it’s gone?”121

Authentic relationships of trust require transparency and engagement of the

whole person as opposed to showing or sharing one side of life with our victories only.

Sociable robots are widely accepted and loved in Japan due to the influence of the Shinto

sense of inanimate objects having a soul:

“The main Japanese religion is Shintoism, which has the worldview of animism to the external world. Plants, animals, rocks, as well as artificial devices and the environment possess a spiritual essence. So, robots, especially social, animal or human-like robots can easily be imagined having a soul. This is something strange to European Christian religions, which find immortal soul only in human beings, and often have only instrumental attitude to non-human entities.”122

That said, the Pew Research Center cites one researcher, Stowe Boyd, who

predicts that “robotic sex partners will be commonplace,” possibly as early as 2025.123

Are such robots and their relationship with humans already opening the door to what

121 R.C. Sproul, "Should Christians Be on Facebook?”, Ligonier Ministries, https://www.ligonier.org/blog/should-christians-be-facebook/. 122 Marketta Niemela in “Why Are Robots Part of Religion in Japan?”, Mind Matters, March 11, 2019, https://mindmatters.ai/2019/03/why-are-robots-part-of-religion-in-japan/. 123 Aaron Smith and Janna Anderson, "Ai, Robotics, and the Future of Jobs," Pew Research Center, https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2014/08/Future-of-AI-Robotics-and-Jobs.pdf. 56

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Kurzweil calls “spiritual machines”?124 Moltmann points to an eschatological

reconciliation of the full realization of the imago dei: “The true likeness to God is to be

found, not at the beginning of God’s history with mankind, but at its end; and as goal it

is present in that beginning and during every moment of that history.”125 Moltmann

covers the entire lifecycle of humans as created beings, justified beings, sanctified

beings, and then glorified beings as the imago dei is realized.126

2.3.2 Unintended meanings and consequences of the Imago Dei

The imago dei stands as a hope for the oppressed in the world, both in the past

and today. It serves as a liberating narrative to humanity, which is perpetually locked in

the struggle against inhumane powers and systems. For instance, using the

Deuteronomic Creed as a model, liberation of Israel from Egyptian slavery and hard

labor (cf. Deut. 26:5b-11), Dalit (the outcastes of India’s caste system) theologians can

construct the historical Dalit consciousness. Dalit consciousness has to do with roots,

identities, the struggle for human dignity, and "for the right to live as free people created

in the image of God." Nirmal says:

“The historical Dalit consciousness depicts even greater and deeper pathos than is found in the Deuteronomic Creed. My Dalit ancestors did not enjoy the nomadic freedom of the wandering Aramean. As outcasts, they were also cast

124 Ray Kurzweil, The Age of Spiritual Machines: How We Will Live, Work and Think in the New Age of Intelligent Machines (London: Phoenix, 1999). 125 Jurgen Moltmann and Margaret Kohl, God in Creation: An Ecological Doctrine of the Creation (London: SCM Press, 1985), 225. 126 Ibid, 225-27. 57

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

out of their villages. When my Dalit ancestors walked the dusty roads of his village, the Sa Varnas tied a branch of a tree around his rest so that he would not leave any unclean footprints and pollute the roads."

The Dalit consciousness should realize that the ultimate goal of its liberation

movement cannot be the “land flowing with milk and honey.” For Christian Dalit

Theology, it cannot be simply the gaining of rights, the reservation, and the privileges.

The goal must be the realization of full humanness or, conversely, full divinity, the ideal

of the imago dei, the image of God in us. To use another biblical category, our goal is the

“glorious liberty of the children of God."127

Stanley Hauerwas and Samuel Wells point to Christian worship as the disarming

practice, characterizing humans not as strangers competing for limited resources, but as

fellow pilgrims:

“unless this story of the modern self is questioned, ethical recommendations for racial reconciliation may unwittingly reproduce the same politics of anxiety. That is what makes an ethics of “tolerance” problematic. For it reproduces a problematic form of inclusion by which power and privilege are extended but not questioned. In this way, white privilege may be extended to black folks without, however, questioning the underlying politics and accounts of the self and of human flourishing that are responsible for giving rise to the problem of racism in the first place. What is required if such a politics is to be resisted is an altogether different story of the self, a different politics in which the self is “relieved,” so to speak, of the need to provide the grounds for its own existence or to prove its importance. The relief can only come to the extent that the self is not at the center of life. Christian worship is precisely the performance of this different story, which draws the self into the wider story of God’s creation and

127 Arvind P. Nirmal, "Toward a Christian Dalit Theology," in Frontiers in Asian Christian Theology: Emerging Trends (1994), 3339. 58

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

redemption. In other words, if modern anthropology, in which the theories and practices of racism are at home, is an “arming” strategy, Christian worship is a “disarming” practice. That is what being greeted “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit . . .” does. For the greeting is an invitation to the Christian to “relax,” as it were, in the knowledge that his or her life needs no other grounds for its justification since it has already been justified and the Christian is already part of that new creation that is made possible by “the love of God, the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.” Becoming thus aware of, and learning to relax in, this good news Christians can now be aware of other Christians – not as strangers competing for limited resources, but as fellow pilgrims, fellow citizens of this new creation.”128

Lynn White Jr. blames the doctrine of the imago dei’s “dominion factor” for the

environmental crisis humans face today. Concerning the Genesis creation account of the

image, he contends that it resulted in treating nature as something created for the

pleasure and purposes of the agents of God, namely, humanity.129 Stuart L. Pimm, Doris

Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the

Environment says, “I’m a believing Christian. ‘God so loved the cosmos that he gave his

only son.’ That’s an injunction from St. John. To me, this says that Christians have an

obligation to look after the world—stewardship. We cannot pointlessly drive species to

extinction and destroy forests and oceans. When we do that, we are destroying God’s

128 Stanley Hauerwas and Samuel Wells, The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics (Malden, MA; Oxford: Blackwell Pub., 2004), 76. 129 Lynn White, "The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis," Science 155, no. 3767 (1967): 1205. 59

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

creation.”130 Can AI help us understand ourselves better? And, in turn help us better

conserve the creation of God?

Other creatures have exceeded human achievements in their own specific

expertise. Cheetahs, springboks, and lions, among other land animals, are faster than

humans. Man-made cars and trucks are faster than humans. Today’s AI machines are

better than humans, doing calculations and playing chess or Go, but does that mean

they will gain the life, consciousness, and awareness that are part of being human? AI

certainly confronts the Christian view of the imago dei.

What if they are successful in creating AI in the image of humans? In this case, is

the imago dei of AI possible? What unique characteristics of human character, as defined

by the imago dei, might be threatened by AI? The next chapter focuses on whether

symbiosis of the imago dei with AI is possible. If so, what will that entail? The discussion

moves to the ethics of AI in the presence or absence of such symbiosis. If humans are

different from AI, then what are those differences? How should humans relate to AI in

the context of the human telos? What is the telos of AI? Who gets to decide on such a

telos?

130 Claudia Dreifus, "Asking ‘Why Do Species Go Extinct?’," New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/science/04conv.html.

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

3. AI and life forms

Descartes maintains that there is fundamental rupture between the human,

animal, and machine. In relation to the machine, Descartes starts by recognizing that

humans can make machines. The problem is, however, that the machine is simplistic in

comparison to the complexity of human beings. In short, the machine is objective and

runs according to programmed ends, whereas the human is organic and capable of

spontaneous action, which not only gives the human being a different flow than

machines, but also means humans can easily spot machines that look like humans.131

Once the machines pass the Turing test this statement will be proved false, but it is true

that machines, even today, run to their programmed ends. Heidegger links being to time

and hence shows that being is not fixed but is “essentially” becoming.132 Heidegger steps

back to consider humanity through the question of being. As a consequence, he comes to

a particular revelation: rather than being defined by its difference from other entities, a

human being is defined in relation to “being,” in that it, and it alone out of all entities,

exists in the open clearing of being.133 Donna Haraway contends that technology shapes

131 René Descartes and Donald A. Cress, Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1998), 31. 132 Martin Heidegger, John Macquarie, and Edward Robinson, Being and Time (Oxford: Blackwell, 1962), 1. 133 Ibid, 226. 61

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

every aspect of human life, and human identity becomes fluid, being shaped by techno

cultural forces. One cannot be cut off from their influence.134 She says,

Late twentieth-century machines have made thoroughly ambiguous the difference between natural and artificial, mind and body, self-developing and externally designed, and many other distinctions that used to apply to organisms and machines. Our machines are disturbingly lively, and we ourselves frighteningly inert.135

We now turn attention to discuss issues related to the fluidity and symbiosis of

technology and lifeforms.

3.1 Soil and Silicon (Si)

The closeness, and yet enmity, between humans and creation is highlighted by

the play on words between ādām either as “human being,” or the first male individual,

and ădāmâ, “ground, earth.” It is from ădāmâ that ādām is fashioned (Genesis 2:7). The

latter’s task is to till the earth (2:6). When ādām disobeys Yahweh, the ădāmâ is cursed

(3:17–19). This in turn causes hardship for ādām. The end of ādām is again to return to

the ădāmâ (parallel to āpār “dust”). This wordplay continues through the flood story

and is highlighted in 4:11–12 and 5:29. The link between ādām and ădāmâ in terms of sin

134 Donna Haraway, “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century,” in The Cybercultures Reader, ed. David Bell and Barbara M. Kennedy (London: Routledge, 2000), 291-295. 135 Ibid, 293-294. 62

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

and curse is only alleviated in 8:21–22. The dependence of fertility on human behavior,

which remains wicked (8:21; 9:18–27; 11:1–9), is broken.

While the wordplay between ādām and ădāmâ is unique to the biblical material,

the notion that humans are in part formed from earth or clay was widespread in the

ancient Near East. We find it in the Sumerian account of the creation of humans, where

Enki, in order to fashion servants for the gods, calls on Mammu to “mix the heart of the

clay that is over the abyss.”136 Likewise in the story of Atrahasis, Ea assists Mami, “the

mistress of all the gods,” in fashioning humans by pinching off pieces of clay.137 The

creation account in Genesis 1 depicts both the spiritual and material elements of human

beings. God breathing the breath into humanity gives it a soul, spirit, and life, which are

permanent through eternity, with the body as a temporary abode. The body as a

temporary abode has a special relationship with soil. Therefore, it is necessary to discuss

the importance of soil, then briefly discuss similarities and differences with silicon

(material used to develop computational chips that support AI and other forms of

computer programing).

136 Samuel Noah Kramer, Sumerian Mythology: a Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium B.C. (New York, 1961), 72-73. 137 David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992), 63; See also Tablet I. 189–260; ANET, 99–100; W. G. Lambert, A. R. Millard, and Miguel Civil, Atra-ùhasåis: the Babylonian story of the flood (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1999), 56-61. 63

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Soil science studies soil as a natural resource on the surface of the earth; it

includes soil formation, its classification and mapping, the physical, chemical, biological

and fertility properties of soils, and showing these properties in relation to the use and

management of soils.138 Closer examination of soil shows that it has creatures crawling

through it. Complex structures exist in soil, with pores and channels for water, and

different colors and shapes and particles. Macroinvertebrates, bacteria, and fungal

hyphae are all present in soil. Soil comes in brown, red, black, orange, and even blue

colors. In the U.S. alone, soil is classified in twelve types. This classification was done by

Guy Donald Smith, former director or the US Department of Agriculture’s soil survey

investigations.139 Alfisol is soil with aluminum and iron, Andisol is volcanic ash soil,

Aridisol is dry soil, Entisol is sediments found around rivers; the list goes on.140

In Genesis 1:9 we read about the formation of dry ground: “And God Said, ‘Let

the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.’ And it

was so.”

138 Julia A. Jackson, Glossary of Geology, 4 ed. (Alexandria, Virginia: American Geological Institute, 1997), 604. 139 Alan Donovan, “Guy D. Smith, 73, USDA Soil Expert, Dies,” 1981, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1981/08/29/guy-d-smith-73-usda-soil-expert-dies/962ae425- d6cb-40c0-af27-c0fcb1700b2d/. 140 Staff Soil Survey, Soil Taxonomy: A Basic System of Soil Classification for Making and Interpreting Soil Surveys (Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, 1999). 64

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Even today, scientists are unable to explain the mysterious qualities of water.141

Whereas in Genesis 2:4-7, we see its more intimate interaction with dry ground and soil:

“This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

is also translatable as ground. So, Adam came from ( המדא :Adamah (Hebrew

“adamah”, or the ground. This reinforces humankind’s role in cultivating the earth as

well as its origins from the dust.142 God breathes life into dust to make humans. We are

God-breathed or God-inspired creatures. Not only are humans molded from soil and

given life from God’s breath, we read in Genesis 2:15 the vocation humans are given in

terms of their responsibility to the soil: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the

garden of Eden to till it and keep it.”

Soil, the material from which humans are made, becomes the vocation of

humankind, the vocation to serve and protect it. In Latin, the word for dust is humus

which happens to be the root word for humility. As creatures, we came not only from

141 "The strangest liquid: Why water is so weird," newscientist.com, 2010, accessed 10 September, 2019, https://ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen5555/SourceMaterial/StructureOfWater.pdf. 142 Ithamar Grinvald, Rituals and Ritual Theory in Ancient Israel (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003), 60. 65

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

dust, but the nature of that word in Latin leads one to the idea of humility.143 After the

flood, the covenant God makes with Noah in Genesis 9:16-17 is a covenant made with

every living creature and not just with mankind:

“When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

Soil has the quality of resurrection in it. It is an organic decomposition system

whereby millions of plants and trees die in it, yet death is quietly absorbed, and then the

earth produces other organisms.144 Speaking about the recovery of soil from above-

ground nuclear testing and cotton farming in the Piedmont area of North Carolina, Dan

Richter, of Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences,

comments, “You can see the brown and black organic matter coming back. The topsoil is

being rebuilt by the forest after the plow destroyed it for more than a hundred years.”145

Wendell Berry puts it best: “The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and

destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrect-or, by which disease passes

143 Steven Bouma-Prediger, For the Beauty of the Earth: A Christian Vision for Creation Care (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2003), 64. 144 Alexandra Bot and Jose Benites, The Importance of Soil Organic Matter: Key to Drought-Resistant Soil and Sustained Food Production (Rome: FAO Land and Plant Nutrition Management Service, 2005), chapter 2. http://www.fao.org/3/a0100e/a0100e05.htm. 145 Robin A. Smith, “Legacies of Cotton, Atomic Age Linger in Soil,” 2016, https://today.duke.edu/2016/05/piedmontsoilsaftercotton. 66

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

into health, age into youth, death into life.”146 Meanwhile, materials from the finest sand

have given humankind the ability to create silicon chips that power AI. Biological

intelligence comes from the same soil as AI. Graeme Finlay reflects on how the

randomness of natural processes achieves God’s creative purpose:

“To the Christian it is axiomatic that each one of us is a created being (Psalm 139). Scientifically, we are the product of random genetic process. Theologically, we are the outcome of loving divine purpose. Molecular randomness (in scientific terms) and createdness (in theological terms) inevitably go hand-in- hand.”147

The Christian notion of human beings having a body (Matthew 6:22), mind

(psyche; Romans 12:1-2), and spirit (pneuma; 1 Corinthians 2:11) can be equated to

physical, nonphysical, and supernatural aspects, respectively. Science, including

biotechnology, has not been able to address the nonphysical attributes of human beings.

To be living, conscious, and rational are keys to humankind and are beyond the

categories of simply being physical. Meanwhile, God has no history; he is outside the

bounds of time as we experience it, and so he experiences the whole of reality as an

eternal “now.” Hebrews 1:3 describes God as a supernatural being that is omniscient

and sustains His creation. Human consciousness is a “just-in-time” awareness of our life

146 Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture (Magnolia, MA.: Peter Smith, 1997). 147 Graeme Finlay, "Human Evolution: How Random Process Fulfils Divine Purpose," Perspectives on Science & Christian Faith 60, no. 2 (2008): 103-14, https://alumniproxy.lib.duke.edu/login?url==http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a2h& AN=32440677&site=ehost-live&scope=site. 67

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

and environment. We only experience snapshots and flashbacks of reality. God is out of

the time continuum in which humans are locked. God is not temporal.148 He is beyond

time. Thomas Aquinas offers several arguments in support of this conclusion. The first

argument goes:

1. Whatever exists in time can be computed according to its befores and afters. 2. Changeless being, as God is, has no befores or afters; it is always the same. 3. Consequently, God must be timeless.

Time is duration characterized by substantial and accidental changes. A

substantial change is a change in what something is. Fire changes what a piece of wood

is. An accidental change is a change in what something has. Growing knowledge is an

accidental change in a being. Aquinas sees three levels of being in relation to time and

eternity:

1. God in eternity is Pure Actuality, without essential or accidental change. 2. Angels and saints who dwell in the spiritual world of heaven live in aeviternity (or aevum). 3. Human beings, comprising soul and body, form, and matter, live in time.

Eternity (God) endures without any potency. Aeviternity (angels) endures with

completely actualized potency. Their changes are not essential but accidental. Spiritual

beings in aeviternity do not change in their essence, though they do undergo accidental

changes. Angels increase in knowledge by divine infusion, and they have

148 Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Complete English ed., 5 vols. (Westminster, Md: Christian Classics, 1981), 1a., 10, 1. 68

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

changeableness with regard to choice, intelligence, affections, and places.149 But with no

substantial changes in aeviternity, angels are immutable in their level of grace and

charity. What is true of the angels is also true of the elect in heaven.150 Time (humanity)

endures with progressive actualized potency.

The second argument for God’s eternity similarly follows from immutability. It

begins with the premise that whatever is immutable does not change in the state of its

being. Whatever is in time goes through a succession of states. So, whatever is

immutable is not temporal. This argument stresses another aspect of time: whatever is

temporal has successive states, one after the other. God does not, so he is not temporal.

Total immutability necessarily implies eternity.151 For whatever changes

substantially is in time and can be computed according to before and after. Whatever

does not change cannot be in time, since it has no different states by which before and

after can be computed. It never changes. Whatever does not change is not temporal. Not

only is God eternal, but he alone is eternal,152 for he alone is essentially immutable.

Aquinas distinguishes eternity from endless time.153 First, whatever is essentially

whole (eternity) is essentially different from what has parts (time). Eternity is now,

149 Ibid, 1a.10.6. 150 Norman L. Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1999), 285. 151 Thomas, Summa Theologica, 1a.10.2. 152 Ibid, 1a.10.3. 153 Ibid, 1a.10.4. 69

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

forever; time includes past, present, and future, now, and then. The implication of this is

that God’s eternity is not divided; it is all present to him in his eternal now. So it must be

essentially different from time in successive moments. Second, endless time is just an

elongation of time. But eternity differs qualitatively. It differs essentially, not merely

accidentally. Eternity is an essential, changeless state of being that transcends moment-

by-successive-moment reality. Time measures that reality, or rather the stage on which

reality plays out.

Third, an eternal being cannot change, whereas time involves change.

Accounting for change, the measurements of before and after can be made. Whatever

can be computed according to before and after is not eternal. Endless time can be

computed according to before and after. Hence, endless time is not the same as eternity.

The eternal is changeless, but what can be computed by its before and after has changed.

It follows, then, that the eternal now cannot live in relation to endless befores and afters.

Obviously, Aquinas saw a crucial difference between the “now” of time and the

“now” of eternity.154 The now of time is movable. The now of eternity is not movable in

any way. The eternal now is unchanging, but the now of time is ever changing. There is

only an analogy between time and eternity; they cannot be the same. God’s now has no

past or future; time’s now does.

154 Ibid, 1a.10.4. 70

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Some have mistakenly concluded that Aquinas did not believe in God’s duration

for eternity, because he rejected temporality in God. Aquinas argued that duration

occurs as long as actuality exists. But eternity, aeviternity, and time endure in different

ways.

It follows, therefore, that the essential difference in the quality of the duration in

time, aeviternity, and eternity comes from the condition of the actuality. God is Pure

Actuality. Angels have received total actuality from God in their created spiritual forms.

Human beings progressively receive actuality in both spiritual form and material body.

Since God endures without potentiality, he cannot endure progressively. He

endures in a much higher way—as Pure Actuality.155

Physical science can develop its study of nonliving “dust.” However, science has

yet to transcend its limitations into the life-giving breath of God, which molded clay into

a living being. Even Paul struggles to correctly depict who we will be:

“Thus, it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven,” (1 Cor. 15:45–49).

Yuval Harari predicts that homo sapiens will be transformed into homo deus:

155 Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, 284-85. 71

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

“Techno-humanism agrees that Homo sapiens as we know it has run its historical course and will no longer be relevant in the future but concludes that we should therefore use technology in order to create Homo deus—a much superior model. Homo deus will retain some essential human features but will also enjoy upgraded physical and mental abilities…Since intelligence is decoupling from consciousness, and since non-conscious intelligence is developing at breakneck speed, humans must actively upgrade their minds if they want to stay in the game.”156

David Pearce, Co-founder of the World Transhumanism Association, believes

human-technology symbiosis will “ease the suffering of the entire biosphere. Whereby,

lions lie down with lambs.”157 As seen in chapter 1, many of the narratives of

metahumans and transhumanism end up in visions of dystopia. Performing the imago

dei, in a sense, is to be cultivating (as in the garden) and creating. Tim Keller talks of

culture-making as “… getting hands dirty. And God formed man from the dust of the

ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Genesis 2:7).” The contrast with

all other ancient creation accounts could not be greater. In most creation accounts,

creation is the byproduct of some kind of warfare or act of violence. Virtually never is

the creation deliberate and planned. Secular scientific accounts of the origin of things

are, interestingly, almost identical to the older pagan ones. The physical shape of the

world, as well as creatures’ biological composition, is the product of violent forces.

Unique among the creation accounts, the Bible depicts a world that is brimming with

156 Yuval Noah Harari, Homo Deus: a Brief History of Tomorrow (New York, NY: Harper, 2017), 357. 157 Jønathan Lyons, “Abolition Is Imperative in Kurzweil’s Sixth Epoch Scenario,” 2013, https://ieet.org/index.php/IEET2/more/lyons20130525. 72

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

dynamic, abundant forms of life that are perfectly interwoven, interdependently and

mutually enhancing and enriching. The Creator’s response is delight. He keeps

repeating that it is all good. When God creates human beings, he instructs them to

continue to cultivate and draw out the vast resources of creation like a gardener does in

a garden. “Go, keep this going,’ the creator seems to be saying in Genesis 1:28, “Have a

ball!”158

3.2 From soil to cyborg?

Philip Hefner has popularized the term “created co-creator” and has

characterized it in three parts:

“A. The Human being is created by God to be a co-creator in the creation that God has brought into being and for which God has purposes. B. The conditioning matrix that has produced the human being – the evolutionary process – is God’s process of bringing into being a creature who represents the creation’s zone of a new stage of freedom and who therefore is crucial for the emergence of a free creation. C. The freedom that marks the created co-creator and its culture is an instrumentality of God for enabling the creation (consisting of the evolutionary past of genetic and cultural inheritance as well as the contemporary ecosystem) to participate in the intentional fulfilment of God’s purposes.”159

158 Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (New York: Riverhead Books, 2009), 167; Debra Rienstra, So Much More: an Invitation to Christian Spirituality (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2005), 41. 159 Philip Hefner and the Religion International Society for Science, The Human Factor: Evolution, Culture, and Religion (2007), 32. 73

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

The creative evolutionary process in humans that Hefner speaks about goes

beyond biology (and the making of other humans) to technological and cultural

creations. Karen O’Donnell’s thought experiment poses this question:

“What does it mean, then, to be in the image of God? Being in the image of God is not contingent upon human DNA or participation in a particular biological species, but rather about orientation toward the image in the other and chosen performativity of this orientation.”160

Such a thought experiment is based on Philip Hefner’s breaking down of

boundaries among humans, nature, and technology and then asserting:

“That humans and technology are set for nature’s possibilities. Humans are not what they used to be, so anthropocentrism is not the same, either. The religion of cyborgs and technosapiens, therefore, is also a religion of nature. If we speak in Jewish-Christian-Muslim terms, we must say that technosapiens is creation and cyborg is created in the image of God. If we subscribe to Religious Naturalism, we will have to say that technology is as much a dimension of the natural as the sea, the landscape, the biosphere and other elements of the evolutionary process. Technology is now a phase of evolution, and it is now creation, a vessel for the image of God.”161

O’Donnell argues that the crossing of boundaries is nothing new in Christianity.

Mary is both virgin and mother, and her hybrid state is highly exalted (Luke 1:46-55).

Eucharistic theology speaks of bread and wine integrated in the body of Christ. Being

comprised of two things (human and technology), being cyborg, can still be a holistic

160 Karen O’Donnell, "Performing the Imago Dei: Human Enhancement, Artificial Intelligence and Optative Image-Bearing," International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, 18 no. 1 (2018/01/02 2018): 4-15, https://doi.org/10.1080/1474225X.2018.1448674, https://doi.org/10.1080/1474225X.2018.1448674. 161 Philip Hefner, Technology and Human Becoming (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003), 77. 74

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

experience.162 Traditional anthropologies will struggle with this idea on many levels. The

metaphors, parables, and imagery in the scriptures are not directly interpretable in the

realm of the cyborg breathing or becoming human.

The term cyborg (short for Cybernetic Organism) originated among NASA

scientists to create a cross between human-nature (organic) and techno-nature

(biomechatronic). Cyborgs would be created to withstand environments that are hostile

to ordinary humans.163 The cyborg is a joining of hardware with human wetware.

Since the 1990s a handful of such “joinings” have been conducted by

neurologists on humans. In a non-neurological sense, humans have been cyborgs since

the first artificial prostheses. In that respect, Long John Silver was a cyborg. Artificial

limbs, pacemakers, implantable insulin pumps, all of these are machines that replicate or

replace the function of human body parts. As far as neurological cyborg developments,

in 1963 a scientist at Oxford University reported he had found a way to control a slide

projector using human brain waves. Also, around the same time, Yale University

neuroscientist Jose Delgado developed a radio-controlled brain implant called

Steimociver that could pick up neural signals and deliver shocks to the cortex. Delgado

162 O’Donnell, "Performing the Imago Dei: Human Enhancement, Artificial Intelligence and Optative Image- Bearing," 11. 163 Clynes, M. and Kline, N. (1995) ‘Cyborgs and space’, in Chris Hables Gray, The Cyborg Handbook (London: Routledge, 1995). 75

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

became famous when he stepped into the ring with a red cape to incite a bull.164 As the

animal came close, Delgado pressed two buttons on the device that slowed the animal to

a halt, then the second made the animal turn and go away. Later on, scientists threw out

this experiment as a publicity stunt.165 Another neurosurgeon, Phil Kennedy, called his

invention the neurotrophic electrode. His breakthrough came when he affixed the tips of

Teflon-coated gold wires inside a hollow glass cone. In the same tiny space, he inserted

another crucial component: a thin slice of sciatic nerve. This crumb of biomaterial would

serve to fertilize the nearby neural tissue, enticing microscopic arms from local cells to

unfurl into the cone. Instead of plunging a naked wire into the brain cortex, Kennedy

would coax nerve cells to weave their tendrilled growths around the implant, locking it

in place like a trellis snarled in ivy. For human subjects he would replace the sciatic

nerve with a chemical cocktail known to stimulate neural growth. The glass cone design

seemed to be beneficial, in that researchers could leave it in the brain for long stretches

of time to monitor the brain's electric chatter. After years of animal testing, Kennedy’s

164 John A. Osmundsen, “‘Matador’ With a Radio Stops Wired Bull,” 1965, https://sites.google.com/site/mcrais1/delgado. 165 Timothy C. Marzullo, "The Missing Manuscript of Dr. Jose Delgado's Radio Controlled Bulls," Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education (JUNE): a Publication of the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN) 15, no. 2 (2017), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28690447, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5480854/.

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

cone electrodes received FDA approval to test on humans who had no other way to

move or speak.

Riding on the success of his earlier patient, Johnny Ray, Kennedy put brain

implants on two more patients. One patient’s incision did not close, and the implant had

to be removed. The other patient’s disease progressed so rapidly that there was no sense

in implanting electrodes in his brain. Ray also died from a brain aneurysm in the fall of

2002. After losing FDA approval on the procedure and facing a lack of funding and

progress, Kennedy decided that the only way to advance the project was to tap into a

healthy human brain with the electrode he had developed to enhance the brain. He

made himself the subject of such an experiment. He hired a surgeon in Belize, a country

with loose medical safety and efficacy standards, to open his skull and implant his

electrode (shown below).

Figure 3-1: Brain Implant Electrode - Photo by Dan Winters166

166 Daniel Engber, “The Neurologist Who Hacked His Brain —and Almost Lost His Mind,” 2016, https://www.wired.com/2016/01/phil-kennedy-mind-control-computer/. 77

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

The surgery went well without any snags or much bleeding, but two days after

the surgery, when his surgeon tried to interact with Kennedy, his jaw began to grind,

and chatter, and his hands began to shake. The surgeon got worried that the seizure

would break Kennedy’s teeth. When given a pen, Kennedy could not make any sense,

either, writing random letters all over the page.

Figure 3-2: Electrode Implant - Illustration by Francesco Muzzi167

After 88 days of suffering Kennedy went under the knife with a local doctor in

Atlanta to remove the apparatus that would have made his brain more powerful and

made him into a first of a kind Cyborg. Kennedy is still alive but with garbled speech

and a drooping face on the side of the skull where the incision was made to install the

electrode.

Most recently, Elon Musk has invested $39 million to build another company

called NeuraLink, which boasts:

“The brain-computer interface venture is based on creating devices that can be implanted inside the human brain. Its objective is to help humans merge with

167 Engber, “The Neurologist Who Hacked His Brain —and Almost Lost His Mind.” 78

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

software. This would thus help bring humans on par with the advancements in AI. In the longer run, this could result in an improvement of memory in humans. Moreover, it could allow interfacing with computers in the coming times and thus making communication easier and much more efficient.”168

Musk, inspired by Iain Banks’ culture series of science fiction novels, expects to

put thousands of electrodes in the brain to augment intelligence with AI. For example,

one could simply download a calculus chip into the brain to be a calculus guru. The

same with flying a helicopter, Musk’s helicopter chip download would let anyone with

no knowledge or training of helicopters fly them safely. Professor Krishna Shenoy is not

so sure; he likens our understanding of the brain to humanity’s grasp of the world map

in the early 1500s. Another professor, Jeff Lichtman, is even harsher. He starts off his

courses by asking his students the question, “If everything you need to know about the

brain is a mile, how far have we walked in this mile?” He says students give answers

like three-quarters of a mile, half a mile, a quarter of a mile, etc.—but that he believes the

real answer is “about three inches.”169

In a conversation with Jack Ma of Alibaba, Elon Musk insisted that we all are

cyborgs already. He came to this conclusion based on the fact that most of the

168 Aditi Nirmal, “Musk’s Neuralink Linking up Funds; Raises $39 Mn,” 2019, https://cofounderstown.com/2019/05/musk-owned-neuralink-raises-39-mn/. 169 Beautiful 3-D Brain Scans Show Every Synapse, (youtube.com: National Geographic, 2014). 79

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

population is addicted to screens on their mobile and desktop devices.170 It would be like

saying someone is whiskey because they are addicted to alcohol.

3.3 Breath of God

Something happened in the universe and in humanity when God breathed his

breath on it. The spirit that hovered over the waters in Genesis 1 is equated to the breath

of God that He breathed into the mold of clay in the garden of Eden. The same spirit that

brought order to chaos, formed the nuclei of the primordial elements hydrogen and

helium and the first atoms, saw the birth of galaxies and stars, and developed the

universe and solar system around our sun, also made the strands of DNA embedded in

every living organism, along with humans and our vastly complex brains. The breath of

God giving and sustaining life is found throughout the Bible. Hebrew “ruach” can mean

wind, breath, or spirit. As already noted in Genesis 2:7, through the breath of God

humans became living beings. Genesis 6:3 says, we will live so long as the breath of life

is within us, making humans living beings and giving them a soul. In Genesis 6:17 and

7:22 God warns that the flood will “destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the

breath of life.” In Genesis 7:15, Noah is instructed to take “two of all flesh in which there

is breath of life.” In Job 33:4, Elihu says: “The spirit of God has made me, and the breath

170 China Global Television Network, Live: Jack Ma and Elon Musk’s AI Debate in Shanghai, accessed February 18, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ5w11Cm3gM.

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

of the Almighty gives me life.” Job 34:14-15 warns, “If he should take back his spirit to

himself, and gather to himself its breath, all flesh would perish together, and all mortals

return to dust.” Ecclesiastes 12:7 says, “and the dust returns to earth as it was, and the

spirit returns to God who gave it.” The Psalms, throughout, bear imagery of God’s

breath and word, which have the force of creativity and power behind them: “By the

word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their

host,” (Psalm 33:6).

“These all look to you, to give them their food in due season. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground,” (Psalm 104.27-30).

“And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD,” (Ezekiel 37:3-6).

Although brain implants are commonplace for deep brain stimulation for

Parkinson’s disease,171 we have yet to see successfully functioning brain communication

171 E.J. Mundell, “FDA Approves Brain Stimulation Device for Parkinson’s Disease,” WebMD, accessed February 4, 2020, https://www.webmd.com/parkinsons-disease/news/20150612/fda-approves-brain- stimulation-device-for-parkinsons-disease. 81

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

implants. Imagine the difficulty of creating a whole human. David F. Siemens asks a

brilliant question in response to Graham Finlay’s randomness of natural processes:172

“’Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being’ (Genesis 2:7). Physical science has successfully developed paradigms to study nonliving ‘dust’. However, can science make the ‘breath’ of God part of its subject matter? Is the concept of life so elusive that it becomes scientifically indefinable? Perhaps the inability of nonliving matter to detect and identify life as well as consciousness indicates that only life itself can “detect” and know life. Similarly, only self can “detect” and know self. Consciousness presupposes rationality, rationally presupposes life, and life presupposes God. Human rationality and consciousness are used to know nature and God, yet paradoxically humans may be unable to formulate a scientific theory either of life or of self.”

From this it follows that strong AI expects the production of an image of the

fallen image and likeness of God. Would this produce a mortal apparatus or an

immortal one? Would the possibility of exchangeable parts and updating programs give

it improved and unending existence? There is also a vital difference between a device

that can perform a range of specific tasks more rapidly and accurately than humans can

and one that can self-consciously make moral decisions. Can the machine

comprehensively improve on the imitated person? A further question raised would be

172 Finlay, "Human Evolution: How Random Process Fulfils Divine Purpose," 103-04. 82

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

whether digital hardware, the current option, can even adequately emulate analog

wetware, even if this is all there is to consciousness.173

3.4 Morality in body or in soul?

On the extreme end of the argument, Richard Dawkins writes:

We are machines built by DNA whose purpose is to make more copies of the same DNA … This is exactly what we are for. We are machines for propagating DNA, and the propagation of DNA is a self-sustaining process. It is every living object's sole reason for living.174

Phineas P. Gage (1823–1860) was an American railroad construction foreman

remembered for his improbable175 survival of an accident in which a large iron rod was

driven completely through his head, destroying much of his brain's left frontal lobe.176

Gage's mouth was open at the moment of the explosion, and the front and back of his

skull temporarily "hinged" apart as the iron entered from below, then were pulled back

together by the resilience of soft tissues once the iron had exited through the top of

Gage's head.177

173 David F. Siemens Jr, "Al, Scripture, and Hardware," (2008), https://alumniproxy.lib.duke.edu/login?url==http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a2h& AN=34195189&site=ehost-live&scope=site. 174 Richard Dawkins, Growing Up in the Universe (W W Norton & Co Inc, 2006). 175 Henry Jacob Bigelow, Dr. Harlow's Case of Recovery from the Passage of an Iron Bar through the Head (Philadelphia: T.K. & P.G. Collins, Printers, 1850). 176 "Alive from the Dead, Almost". North Star. Danville, Vermont. November 6, 1848. p. 1, col. 2. Transcribed in Malcolm MacMillan, An Odd Kind of Fame: Stories of Phineas Gage (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2000), 39- 40. 177 John Darrell Van Horn et al., "Mapping Connectivity Damage in the Case of Phineas Gage," Article, PLoS ONE 7, no. 5 (2012), https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0037454, https://alumniproxy.lib.duke.edu/login?url==http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a2h& 83

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Figure 3-3: Phineas Cage’s Iron Rod Injury178

The pre-accident Gage was hard-working, responsible, and "a great favorite"

with the men in his charge; his employers regarded him as "the most efficient and

capable foreman in their employ." His doctor took pains to note that Gage's memory and

general intelligence seemed unimpaired after the accident, outside periods of

delirium.179

The post-accident Gage seemed to lack equilibrium or balance, so to speak,

between his intellectual faculties and his animal propensities. He was fitful, irreverent,

indulging at times in the grossest profanity (which was not previously his custom),

manifesting but little deference for his fellows, impatient of restraint or advice when it

AN=79460931&site=ehost-live&scope=site; Peter Ratiu and Ion-Florin Talos, “The Tale of Phineas Gage, Digitally Remastered,” New England Journal of Medicine 351, no. 23 (December 2, 2004): e21, https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMicm031024. 178 News, “How Phineas Gage Survived a Horrific Brain Injury to Become One of the Most Famous Names in Medical History, National Post,” May 16, 2014, https://nationalpost.com/news/how-phineas-gage- survived-a-horrific-brain-injury-to-become-one-of-the-most-famous-names-in-medical-history. 179 MacMillan, An Odd Kind of Fame: Stories of Phineas Gage; Rhodri Hayward, "Malcolm MacMillan, An Odd Kind of Fame: Stories of Phineas Gage," The British Journal for the History of Science 35, no. 4 (2002), https://doi.org/10.1017/S000708740224488X, https://www.cambridge.org/core/article/malcolm-macmillan-an- odd-kind-of-fame-stories-of-phineas-gage-cambridge-ma-and-london-mit-press-2000-pp-xiii562-isbn- 0262133636-2650-hardback/8BDCC8476E3FF4A9B649CB853305724D. Macmillan, Malcolm B, (2000). 84

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

conflicts with his desires, at times pertinaciously obstinate, yet capricious and

vacillating, devising many plans of future operations, which are no sooner arranged

than they are abandoned in turn for others appearing more feasible. A child in his

intellectual capacity and manifestations, he had the animal passions of a strong man.

Previous to his injury, although untrained in the schools, he possessed a well-balanced

mind, and was looked upon by those who knew him as a shrewd, smart businessman,

very energetic and persistent in executing all his plans of operation. In this regard his

mind was radically changed, so decidedly that his friends and acquaintances said he

was "no longer Gage.”180

Gage raises an important question: where does the moral compass in humanity

lie? Are we all body and mind, powered by the brain, or do we have a soul in addition

to the body? Dallas Willard defines the soul as “the hidden or ‘spiritual’ side of a

person.” He further explained that the soul includes an individual’s thoughts, feelings,

and will, as well as an individual’s bodily life and social relations, which are all

“hidden” aspects of our being. The soul is that aspect of our whole being that pulls

everything together. The life center of human beings, the soul seeks to integrate our will

(our capacity to choose), our mind (our thoughts and feelings), and our body (our little

180 John M. Harlow, “Recovery from the Passage of an Iron Bar through the Head,” History of Psychiatry 4, no. 14 (June 1, 1993): 274–81, https://doi.org/10.1177/0957154X9300401407. 85

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

'power packs' filled with appetites and habits) into a complete person.181 In another book,

he offers better clarity, “[It] is like the silent, invisible yet necessary Central Processing

Unit (CPU) of our person. Our soul, and thus our soul’s health, is the driving force

behind everything that matters to us.”182 John Ortberg defines the soul as “the eeriest,

most mysterious, most evocative, crucial, sacred, eternal, life-directing, fragile but

indestructible, and now-a-days quite controversial part of your existence.”183 So, how

does this definition of the soul constitute being human? Does integration of the human

body or mind with technology somehow compromise our essential humanity?184 Joel B.

Green provides an extensive survey of this topic in his book, “In Search of the Soul: Four

Views of The Mind-body Problem.” He provides generous categories and the help of

expert philosophers to debate these issues, including reductive materialism,185 radical

181 Dallas Willard, The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus' Essential Teachings on Discipleship (San Francisco: Harper, 2006). 182 Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2012). 183 John Ortberg and Christine Anderson, Soul keeping Study Guide: Caring for the Most Important Part of You (2014). 184 Francis Fukuyama, Our posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution (London: Profile, 2002); Bill McKibben, Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age (New York: Times Books, 2003). 185 Reductive materialism is the view that the human person is a physical (or material) organism whose emotional, moral and religious experiences will ultimately be explained by the natural sciences. Joel B. Green in Joel B. Green, Stuart L. Palmer, and Kelvin Corcoran, In Search of the Soul: Four Views of the Mind- Body Problem, Kindle ed. (2005), 13. 86

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

dualism,186 and holistic dualism.187 Stewart Goetz defends the traditional view of the soul

as an immaterial substance with essential psychological powers and capacities.188 W.

Hasker suggests that the soul emerges substantively and naturally when the right

configuration of matter and neural stuff is present.189 N. Murphy argues for a physicalist

understanding of personal creatures as having moral capacities made possible by

biological and neurological processes but who are nevertheless irreducible to these

material parts.190 Finally, K. Corcoran proposes that human persons are agential selves

who are constituted by, but not identical with, their bodies.191 In the opening salvo of his

book Green shifts attention from the origin of humans to the mind-body problem,

posing an important question: “How can an immaterial soul influence, perhaps control,

a material body?” Drawing on Augustine he writes, "Some people read books in order to

find God. But the very appearance of God's creation is a great book. Ponder heaven and

earth religiously.”192 Take science seriously on account of the doctrine of creation.193 In

186 Radical dualism is the view that the soul (or mind) is separable from the body, having no necessary relation to the body, with the human person identified with the soul. Green, Palmer, and Corcoran, In Search of the Soul: Four Views of the Mind-Body Problem. 187 Holistic Dualism in its various renditions qualifies as a form of substance dualism, but it posits that the human person, though composed of discrete elements, is nonetheless to be identified with the whole, which then constitutes a functional unity. 188 Green, Palmer, and Corcoran, In Search of the Soul: Four Views of the Mind-Body Problem, 36. 189 Ibid, 109. 190 Ibid, 115-22. 191 Ibid, 159. 192 Karlfried Froehlich, “‘Take up and Read’: Basics of Augustine’s Biblical Interpretation,” Interpretation 58, no. 1 (2004): 5–16. 193 Green, Palmer, and Corcoran, In Search of the Soul: Four Views of the Mind-Body Problem, 15. 87

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

summarizing all four positions, Stuart Palmer tries to find common ground in the

Christian practices of hospitality and forgiveness. He is right in criticizing Nancy

Murphy’s view that “we are no more than chemistry,” writing:

“A reduction of personhood to simply a physical organism understood in terms of basic biology and nothing more would result in a theory aligning more with a modern hospitality, or worse! If we are no more than our basic chemistry, why not focus primarily on sustaining the biological organism and minimize the moral value of assisting others; or of conveying dignity, worth and value to the stranger; or of engaging in personal and relational fellowship and community with those in need of food, clothing and protection? I would assume Murphy would affirm a traditional understanding of Christian hospitality, but her doing so requires a convincing prophylactic against charges of radical reductionism; otherwise, she, like Goetz and Hasker, would need to find a way to embrace the grander points of the Christian narrative and tradition that have conferred on the human being inherent value and worth because of being made in God's image. The question for all three positions, though, remains whether it is sufficient to have a Christian anthropology that does not carry within itself the impetus for care for the other.”194

Whatever our metaphysical makeup, if God deems it good for us to assist and

value others, then it is good indeed. In the creation ethic, being created in the image of

God, we must value the whole person, body, mind, and soul. Having adequate food,

shelter, and clothing in the context of hospitality and forgiveness are key to human

flourishing. In this case, morality is more “built-in” to human nature than any of the

four views could accommodate. Corcoran argues: “The metaphysics of persons are

194 Ibid, 202. 88

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

neutral with respect to a wide variety of matters and the relevant issues can be decided

only by introducing distinctly moral principles such as God’s intentions.”195

God’s creatures are totally different from our creatures—meaning Cyborgs and

AI can exist without “ruach,” breath. Given our limitations, our creation is purely

physical in nature. The purely physical nature of AI aligns with the “materialistic” view

of the new atheists. David Bentley Hart argues that the new atheism fits very well with

the spirit of our shallow, consumer civilization. "Such a society is already implicitly

atheist... It cannot allow ultimate goods to distract us from proximate goods. Our sacred

writ is advertising, our piety is shopping, our highest devotion is private choice.”196

Playing on Marx’s critique of Christianity, Hart says the new atheism is "the opiate of

the bourgeoisie, the sigh of the oppressed ego, the heart of a world filled with tantalizing

toys... the triviality of the movement is its chief virtue.”197

Commenting on the fallacies of the new atheists, Hart says, "nothing in the

cosmos contains the ground of its own being.”198 Yet, "it cannot possibly be the case that

there are only contingent realities," unless we settle for an infinite regress.199

195 Ibid, 172-75. 196 David Bentley Hart, The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013), 313. 197 Ibid. 198 Ibid, 92. 199 Ibid. 89

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Human consciousness, too, is a mystery inaccessible to materialist explanations

since "the most basic phenomenology of consciousness discloses [a] vast...

incommensurability between physical causation and mental events.”200 Hart affirms that

attempts to make sense of human consciousness "in materialist terms frequently devolve

into absurdity and seem inevitably only to exchange one explanatory deficiency for

another.”201

Hart argues that bliss is the human longing for "goodness" and "beauty" makes

little sense within the confines of a materialist metaphysic, despite materialist assertions

to the contrary.202 He further highlights the folly in turning "from the mystery of being to

the availability of things, from the mystery of consciousness to the accessible objects of

cognition, from the mystery of bliss to the imperatives of appetite and self-interest.”203

God is omniscient; there is nothing that can be thought of that he did not think of

first. All human scientific achievement is really a journey of discovery of what God has

woven into creation already. God is the science teacher—all the “aha” moments of

200 Ibid, 153. 201 Ibid, 169. 202 Ibid, 238-90. 203 Ibid, 331. 90

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

scientific discovery were revealed to our mind by God whether we acknowledge it or

not (cf. Isaiah 28:24-29).204

Science is known to God before humans discover it. The exploration of creation

by humanity is a discovery of the glory of God already woven into the fabric of creation

(Habakkuk 2:14, Isaiah 6:3). Technological achievement does not narrow the infinite gap

between the Creator and us, his creatures. Humans are not called by God to be either co-

creators or exploiters, but have been elected by God to assert a limited dominion over a

finite and temporal creation in the name of the One whose image and likeness they

bear.205 Such limited dominion provides a stimulus for purposeful human action, while

also imposing limits upon those actions in line with the temporality and finitude that

characterize both the purposive actors and the objects of their purposeful actions.

204 This passage outlines God’s omniscience and shows that God teaches humanity about science. He teaches us of our humanity and his creation. God knows when to plough, when to plant, and when to thresh before the farmer does. 205 Brent. Waters, From Human to Posthuman: Christian Theology and Technology in a Postmodern World, Ashgate Science and Religion Series (London, New York: Routledge, 2016), 136. 91

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

4. Implications of AI on our planet and society

Among developed and developing societies, there is enormous enthusiasm about

technology in general and Artificial Intelligence (AI) specifically. Many see it as the way

forward, towards a world free from technical incompetence— no traffic jams, no delays

at airports, and no overcrowded subway stations. Slightly more skeptical observers,

however, notice the dangers in surrendering a large percentage of human activity to

machines. Aside from the most obvious dangers such as labor displacement and

technical malfunctions, the rise of technology and AI poses a more fundamental

question: what will be the impact of technology and self-learning machines on human

society? This chapter will focus on that question, emphasizing the economic and

political change that might be brought about by the rise of AI. The next chapter will

focus on the leadership role the Church will need to play in a world dominated by AI

and governed by software.

Albert Borgmann, a philosopher at the University of Montana, has written a

unique book entitled, Power Failure: Christianity in the Culture of Technology.206 His

argument is that our culture is so influenced by technology that we are losing our

former habits of communal celebration. However, he is not a Luddite. He contends that

206 Albert Borgmann, Power Failure: Christianity in the Culture of Technology (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2003). 92

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

we should neither try to demolish technology nor run away from it. We should rather

restrain and redeem it.207 Borgmann’s philosophical approach to technology is not hard

to understand. In the first section of his writings, Borgmann starts by describing our

current cultural context, likening it to Cool Whip. An artificial substitute for whipped

cream, it is an example of how modern technological society has substituted the bland

and artificial for the real. Borgmann challenges us to see the equivalent of Cool Whip in

other products and aspects of our society. He describes our society as having a device

paradigm.

In speaking of celebration, a central theme of the book, Borgmann notes how

celebratory events have become less of a communal event due to our technologically

oriented culture. Commercialization, via television, has made celebration more remote.

Although Borgmann does not mention the Super Bowl, there is probably no better

example. He argues that humanity is cheapened when celebrations exclude real

participants doing things together physically.

The second section of his book is about the place of Christianity within

contemporary culture. In the fourth chapter he speaks of contingency and grace. This is

one of the reasons why a review of this book is relevant. Borgmann understands atheists

Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Stephen Weinberg well enough, and shows that

207 Ibid, 8. 93

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

they recognize contingency in the universe. Borgmann, however, sees grace as

connected to contingency. He posits that people experience different kinds of grace

which eventually determine the chances in their lives. Living in a technological society,

which claims to have answers to so many human needs, puts people at risk of

overlooking this grace that God brings into our lives.

Borgmann also writes about how contemporary technological culture, which he

calls the device paradigm, is marginalizing genuinely valuable and important parts of

culture. For example, reading books is now less common. Martin LaBar says the

following of Borgmann’s book:

"A unique book … [Borgmann] calls us to genuine, face-to-face celebration, as Christians and as inhabitants of culture. Such celebration takes real work and real communication, but it produces a more Christian and humane society. This is a philosophy book that does not try to win an argument. It is philosophy in the sense of examining what it means to be human and what actions this meaning should promote.”208

Let’s look at what the developers of technology and AI say about the force and

power of these technologies and their impact on their own friends and families: “We

have unleashed a beast, but there is a lot of unintended consequences,” says Tony

Fadell, inventor of the iPod and co-inventor of the iPhone at Apple. “I don’t think we

have the tools we need to understand what we do every day … we have zero data about

208 Baker Publishing Group, “Power Failure,” accessed April 2, 2020, http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/power-failure/227810. 94

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

our habits on our devices.”209 Sean Parker, who was the founding President of Facebook,

has publicly called himself “something of a conscientious objector” on social media and

said, “God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains.”210 Steve Jobs told

reporters that his kids don’t use iPads and that “we limit how much technology our kids

use at home.”211 Chamath Palihapitiya, former Vice President of user growth at

Facebook has said that, “I can control my decision, which is that I don’t use that shit. I

can control my kids’ decision, which is that they’re not allowed to use that shit… The

short-term dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how

society works.”212 Eric Schmidt, former Chairman and CEO of Google makes an

audacious suggestion: “Take one hour a day and turn that thing [technology] off. I know

it’s going to be hard. Shut it down. Learn where the off button is.”213

As the possibility of AI looms ever closer, the Western world’s inability to

grapple with its consequences has become increasingly clear. Heretofore, the most

209 Tony Fadell and Anderson Cooper, Take Control of Your Digital Life (Youtube.com: Wisdom 2.0, 2018). 210 Mike Allen, "Sean Parker Unloads on Facebook: “God Only Knows What It's Doing to Our Children's Brains”, Axios.com, https://www.axios.com/sean-parker-unloads-on-facebook-god-only-knows-what-its- doing-to-our-childrens-brains-1513306792-f855e7b4-4e99-4d60-8d51-2775559c2671.html. 211 Nick Bilton, "Steve Jobs Was a Low-Tech Parent," New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/fashion/steve-jobs-apple-was-a-low-tech-parent.html. 212 Alex Hern, "‘Never Get High on Your Own Supply’ – Why Social Media Bosses Don’t Use Social Media," Theguardian.com, https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/jan/23/never-get-high-on-your-own-supply- why-social-media-bosses-dont-use-social-media. 213 Ruth Marcus, "Google’s Eric Schmidt and the Curse of Constant Connection," The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/googles-eric-schmidt-and-the-curse-of-constant- connection/2012/05/22/gIQACNq8iU_story.html. 95

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

consequential technological invention was the printing press, which enabled empirical

knowledge to usurp the place of religious doctrine as the foundation for human

knowledge. Thus, humanity transitioned from an age of religion to an age of reason,

which has continued to this day.214 Since then, machines have become increasingly

powerful, as Western societies transition from agricultural to industrial societies and

from industrial societies to the post-industrial societies of today. What has remained

constant, however, is the human monopoly on defining the purposes and intentions of

these machines. However powerful these computers, weapons, and production lines

might be, humans have continued determining the ends to which their power should be

used. What alarms most observers is the possibility of machine learning going one step

further and developing AI, which defines the ends of the process as well as the means.

The fear is that surrendering the human monopoly over the definition of purpose could

well lead to an age in which humans are reliant on machines governed by algorithms,

rather than religious, cultural, and ethical norms. This is true especially when we

consider the litany of errors AI has delivered in last twenty years, which continue to this

day:

214 Henry A. Kissinger, "How the Enlightenment Ends," The Atlantic Monthly Group, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/henry-kissinger-ai-could-mean-the-end-of-human- history/559124/. 96

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

1988: Admission software discriminates against women and minorities.215 2005: AI reschedules meetings dozens of times, each time by five minutes.216 2010 Complex Stock trading AI software causes a trillion-dollar flash crash.217 2014 A smart fire alarm fails to sound during a fire.218 2015 A robot made for picking auto parts picks and kills a man.219 2015 AI built to check passport photos reports an Asian user as having closed his eyes.220 2016 A self-driving car has a deadly accident.221 2016 The Google search engine gives racist results.222 2017 Amazon’s Alexa AI plays adult content instead of playing kids songs.223 2017 Face-beautifying AI makes black people look white.224 2018 A store assistant robot fails to help, with responses like “cheese is in the fridges.”225

215 Stella Lowry and Gordon MacPherson, "A Blot on the Profession," British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Edition) 296, no. 6623 (1988): 657. 216 Milind Tambe, "Electric Elves: What Went Wrong and Why," AI Magazine 29, no. 2 (2008): 23. 217 Andrei A. Kirilenko et al., “The Flash Crash: The Impact of High Frequency Trading on an Electronic Market,” SSRN Electronic Journal, October 1, 2014, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1686004. 218 Aaron Tilley, "Google's Nest Stops Selling Its Smart Smoke Alarm for Now Due to Faulty Feature," Forbes Media LLC, https://www.forbes.com/sites/aarontilley/2014/04/03/googles-nest-stops-selling-its-smart-smoke- alarm-for-now/#3992807045f1. 219 Eliana Dockterman, "Robot Kills Man at Volkswagen Plant," Time USA, http://time.com/3944181/robot- kills-man-volkswagen-plant/. 220 James Titcomb, "Robot Passport Checker Rejects Asian Man's Photo for Having His Eyes Closed," The Telegraph Media Group, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/12/07/robot-passport-checker-rejects- asian-mans-photo-having-eyes. 221 Sam Levin and Nicky Woolf, "Tesla Driver Killed While Using Autopilot Was Watching Harry Potter, Witness Says," Guardian News & Media Limited, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/01/tesla- driver-killed-autopilot-self-driving-car-harry-potter. 222 Ethan Chiel, "'Black Teenagers' Vs. 'White Teenagers': Why Google's Algorithm Displays Racist Results," G/O Media Inc., https://splinternews.com/black-teenagers-vs-white-teenagers-why-googles-algori- 1793857436. 223 Entrepreneur Staff, "Whoops, Alexa Plays Porn Instead of a Kids Song!”, Entrepreneur Media, Inc., https://www.entrepreneur.com/video/287281. 224 Gary Cutlack, "Faceapp Blames Ai for Whitening up Black People," Gizmodo, http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2017/04/faceapp-blames-ai-for-whitening-up-black-people. 225 James Felton, "Store Hires Robot to Help out Customers, Robot Gets Fired for Scaring Customers Away," ILFScience, http://www.iflscience.com/technology/store-hires-robot-to-help-out-customers-robot-gets-fired- for-scaring-customers-away. 97

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

4.1 Economic implications

In the sphere of economics, the power of machine learning has already been

demonstrated in several spheres, including computation, analysis, and function. In

finance, computer-devised algorithms far outperform humans when it comes to

devising and executing trading strategies. In investment, computer algorithms are seen

to be superior to humans when it comes to calculating risks and rewards, as well as

assessing the overall viability of any project. Even retail companies are increasingly

moving towards machines to perform basic logistical functions.226 By most estimates, we

are likely to see a continuation of the trend towards mechanization of functional tasks,

whereby digital machines outperform humans in areas where success is determined by

the machine’s ability to follow pre-conceived directives consistently. That trend will

cause major disruptions to existing labor systems, since around a third of all jobs in the

Western world involve carrying out tasks that can be performed by robotics. An IBM

study shows that 120 million workers may need to be retrained as a result of AI and

intelligent automation.227 In other words, the majority of the workforce in the West

occupies jobs where they can be outperformed by non-humans.

226 Scott Patterson, The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It (New York: Crown Business, 2013), 213. 227 Jeannine Kilbride, "IBM Study: The Skills Gap Is Not a Myth, but Can Be Addressed with Real Solutions," IBM, https://newsroom.IBM.com/2019-09-06-IBM-Study-The-Skills-Gap-is-Not-a-Myth-But-Can-Be- Addressed-with-Real-Solutions. 98

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

But even with the onset of machines that have outshone humans when it comes

to operating hedge funds, analyzing investments, or the maintenance of logistical

centers, the foundation of the age of reason remains unchallenged, at least for now.

Although machines have proven to be more adept at certain tasks, humans have

retained their monopoly on defining the ends for those machines. First of all, the human

brain remains the main source of economic creativity and the only source for conceiving

the strategies that machines then carry out. Irene Aldridge notes that the use of artificial

intelligence systems at Renaissance Technologies, the hedge fund started by James

Simon, yielded higher returns. These systems use quantitative models generated by

machine learning. As expected, computers proved to be more consistent and precise

than their human counterparts. In the instance of Renaissance Technologies, the fund

employed only 290 traders in 2018, despite managing more than $84 billion.228 But as

Aldridge points out, humans still deserved all the plaudits for the initial idea. While

most of the operations in the fund are run by computers, decision making remains with

the managers, who decide whether to pursue short-term or long-term profits, set

fundraising goals, and who, most importantly, determine which products the fund

should be trading. Therefore, the current finance industry reflects the ambiguous place

228 Irene Aldridge, "ETFs, High-Frequency Trading, and Flash Crashes," The Journal of Portfolio Management 43, no. 1 (2016): 17-19. 99

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

of AI in Western economies. On one hand, machine learning is outperforming humans

at functional jobs across every sector. On the other hand, claims about the imminent

replacement of all humans by machines in every industry may be overblown. Even the

most AI-driven companies afford human beings the power to conceive of the original

business idea, define the ends of the company’s strategy, and make all the key decisions

on products and financial targets.

All the same, there is every danger that machine learning may soon threaten our

monopoly on fundamental economic decisions. There is every possibility that machine

learning will produce algorithms that define their own objectives, which they will go on

to pursue with astonishing levels of precision. This scenario could culminate in the

dystopian vision above: humans would live side-by-side with machines that are more

powerful and that behave according to guidelines unintelligible to humanity. The

economic consequences would be catastrophic, since the prioritization of computer-

defined considerations would veto just about any long-term project, most of which make

little economic sense but whose benefit derives from the stimulus it lends to other

sectors of the economy. When studying the construction of the federal highway network

in the 1950s, Tom Lewis came to the clear conclusion that the overwhelming majority of

roads, bridges, and tunnels, when examined on their own, were unviable.229 Most state

229 Kenneth T. Jackson, "Divided Highways by Tom Lewis," Harvard Design Magazine, no. 7 (1999). 100

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

funds would never be recouped, whether through taxes or any other form, but the

expansion of infrastructure remained vital to the overall stimulus of the US economy,

which enjoyed some of its finest post-war years in the 1950s.230 Moreover, the rise of AI-

powered computers is likely to create an economy that is more focused on the virtual

than on the real sector, since the returns of participating in a computer-driven financial

sector would be far higher than in a human-driven real economy. This would have

disastrous repercussions for the social fabric of Western societies, where the wealth gap

would be exacerbated by the proliferation of “instant billionaires.” By using superior

computers, the new billionaires would accumulate vast wealth by siphoning money

away from the real sector, which accounts for the majority of employment in most

Western economies.

The social consequences of a widening wealth gap in Western countries is fairly

predictable, since history knows multiple precedents where social unrest followed years

of growing economic inequality.231 In an age where AI dominates an economy that does

not demand human labor, unemployment is likely to rise as capital will be diverted

towards computer-driven enterprises. This is likely to lead to a widespread sense of

disillusionment among citizens, the majority of whom will feel dissatisfaction with their

230 Tom Lewis, Divided Highways: Building the Interstate Highways, Transforming American Life (New York: Viking, 1997), 91-94. 231 Theda Skocpol, States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia and China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), 24. 101

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

present and have little hope for their future. Reducing society to a small group of high

net-worth individuals enjoying the fruits of automation with the majority of citizens

enduring declining living standards will make social unrest more likely. In addition, the

usurpation of humans as the key decision-makers in a nation’s economic system is likely

to pose major challenges to the social safety net. Heretofore, computers have been

unable to generate emotional data, so few would understand the appeal of a social

welfare system in which wealthier members of society contribute funds to a safety net

designed to ensure no member of society lives in abject poverty. To a computer, this

may seem illogical. Why, after all, should the seemingly more productive members of

society be forced to divert some of their wealth towards their apparent unproductive

fellow citizens? The equation of a citizen’s “value” to society with this economic power

would undermine the very fabric of the post-war social order. In the aftermath of the left

and right-wing totalitarianism arising in the 1930s in countries plagued by mass

unemployment, Western societies developed wide-reaching welfare systems, which

were designed to alleviate the living standards of the working class and deter them from

joining anti-establishment movements.232 In these societies, a citizen’s “value” now

transcended his or her economic contribution, since it was accepted that the status of

“citizen” bestowed the right to certain economic benefits, regardless of material income.

232 Claus Offe, "Advanced Capitalism and the Welfare State," Politics & Society 2, no. 4 (1972): 237. 102

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

An economic transition driven by AI would complete the transition from an

aristocratic social system to an oligarchical one. Current oligarchical systems are already

identified as worse than the robber barons of American industry.233 Specifically, the

transition would move from an economy with a high level of wealth inequality between

the plurality of the working class and a group of affluent specialized businessmen to an

economy with levels of wealth inequality not seen since the Great Depression. It would

be dominated by a minute group of computer-controlling oligarchs dominating all

sectors of the economy. Some analysts remain unperturbed by this prospect. They

respond that if computers create more wealth for society, all citizens would be better off,

since the government would have more wealth at its disposal to distribute to those

displaced by machines.234 But such a thesis presupposes that computers will actually

create greater wealth in the long term, which in itself is a debatable assumption. The

spread of computers is likely to create an oligarchic economic system, where

unproductive citizens are perceived as valueless. The market cap of FANGMAN

(Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google, Microsoft, Apple and Nvidia) is estimated to be

$5.2 Trillion USD, which is greater than the GDP of both the UK and France combined!235

233 Joel Kotkin, "Today’s Tech Oligarchs Are Worse Than the Robber Barons," The Daily Beast, https://www.thedailybeast.com/todays-tech-oligarchs-are-worse-than-the-robber-barons. 234 Lex Fridman, Eric Schmidt: Google MIT Artificial Intelligence (Ai) Podcast (Youtube.com: Lex Fridman, 2018). 235 “Apple and Microsoft Now Worth More Than All German Stocks and Cryptos,” Trustnodes, December 27, 2019, https://www.trustnodes.com/2019/12/27/apple-and-microsoft-now-worth-more-than-all-german- stocks-and-cryptos. 103

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Whereas, the entire employee base of FANGMAN can comfortably reside in upper

eastside New York.

Figure 4-1: Fangman worth more than France and UK combined, December 2019236

The possible additional wealth generated by computers might instead be short-

lived, still limited to a select few humans who retain control of the algorithms and

govern machine behavior. Therefore, in the longer term, a computer-powered oligarchy

is unlikely to be much different from previous oligarchies, whether in the agricultural or

industrial ages. Traditionally, oligarchies have tended to be short-lived, as they

combined high levels of wealth inequality with low productivity and low levels of

innovation. Combined, these factors eventually led to economic stagnation, a brain

236 Ibid. 104

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

drain, and ultimate defeat in cross-border national competition. There is nothing to

indicate an oligarchy founded on the exclusive control of labor-replacing machines will

not devolve into economic dysfunction and widespread poverty, as has been the case in

the past.

4.2 Political implications

As technology for generating, storing, and utilizing data has increased

exponentially, the political scene in Western democracies has undergone a dramatic shift

from post-Cold War politics. The effect of machine learning in politics is fairly similar to

its effect in economics: it gives a select few humans greater power to achieve their goals

by performing specialized tasks to a level unseen in human history. In economics, that

task has centered on trading strategies. In politics, targeted messaging has become the

staple of every successful political campaign. Some of the more populist political

strategists have lauded the power of technology, claiming it gives candidates a greater

chance to identify voters and connect with their target audience. The goal of technology

companies like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter is user engagement, and this

engagement focuses on making technology persuasive. “For more than 70 percent of the

time you spend watching on Google's massive video site, you're lured in by one of the

service's AI-driven recommendations,” says Neal Mohan, Chief Product Officer at

YouTube. “And if you're watching on a mobile device, the average watching session

105

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

lasts more than 60 minutes, totaling more than 2 billion hours per month. Mohan sees

YouTube’s "recommendations engines” as the reason for this.237 Tim Berners-Lee, one of

the creators of the World Wide Web, warns about the phenomenon: “We demonstrated

that the Web had failed instead of served humanity, as it was supposed to have done,

and failed in many places... the increasing centralization of the Web, ended up

producing—with no deliberate action of the people who designed the platform—a large-

scale emergent phenomenon which is anti-human.”238

The race for attention or engagement has led the giants of social media to employ

the same techniques that are deployed by the alcohol and gambling industries. The

touch-screen gesture known as “pull to refresh,” performs a similar action to that of a

slot machine.239 The removal of “stopping cues,” like refilling alcohol before the glass is

empty, prevents drinkers from knowing how much they have drunk.240 Using these

techniques, YouTube drives considerable traffic via its auto-play feature, which

automatically begins a new video after the current video ends. Auto-play works by

removing stopping cues—or to put it another way, by removing a mental trigger for the

237 Joan E. Solsman, "Youtube's AI Is the Puppet Master over Most of What You Watch," CNET, https://www.cnet.com/news/youtube-ces-2018-neal-mohan/. 238 Katrina Brooker, "’I Was Devastated’: Tim Berners-Lee, the Man Who Created the World Wide Web, Has Some Regrets," Vanity Fair, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/07/the-man-who-created-the-worldwide-web-has-some-regrets. 239 Susan K Perry, "Did You Know These 7 Surprises About Slots?”, Psychology Today, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/creating-in-flow/201211/did-you-know-these-7-surprises-about- slots. 240 Eric Abell, "Stopping Cues," Medium, https://medium.com/@eric_abell/stopping-queues-1fc75588d32e. 106

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

user to decide which video to watch. Everyone is receptive to the persuasive effects of

such techniques, but children and teenagers are more vulnerable to them than others.

Psychology Today reports that getting a “like” or “invite” on Facebook has the same effect

on the brain as that of dopamine and oxytocin, respectively. Social validation is a

strategy used by technology companies to keep users engaged, while simultaneously

creating mass narcissism within society.241

Meanwhile, the disproportionate evolution of targeted messaging has distorted

political campaigning. Targeted messaging is now seen as the single most important

factor in political campaigns, with many candidates focusing on honing their messaging

skills to the detriment of everything else. As a result, more and more campaigns focus

on fringe issues, which have few supporters but whose supporters are nearly

guaranteed to turn out on voting day. The implications of social media on politics can be

seen in Facebook’s estimate that more than 150 million Americans were reached by

Russian propaganda in the 2016 election.242

Political campaigns have also become more concentrated, whereby they address

one or two issues in detail and leave others untouched. A clear example of this is the

2016 Trump campaign, in which he proposed a wide range of policies for immigration,

241 Eva Ritvo, "Facebook and Your Brain: The inside Dope on Facebook," Psychology Today, https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/vitality/201205/facebook-and-your-brain. 242 Spencer Ackerman, "Facebook Now Says Russian Disinfo Reached 150 Million Americans," The Daily Beast, https://www.thedailybeast.com/facebook-now-says-russian-disinfo-reached-150-million-americans. 107

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

trade, and relations with China, while having virtually no specific proposals for other

relevant issues. This has led to a proliferation of governments that are committed to

tackling one or two problems thoroughly, with no concern for other pressing matters. In

a world where factors are increasingly interconnected, this trend does not bode well for

governments, where competence is expected in solving global issues. Besides

encouraging campaigns to become increasingly narrow, machine learning has enabled

some candidates to mobilize support in legally questionable ways. After every major

election in the United States, controversies have emerged over computers enabling some

to vote illegally, while suppressing some legitimate voters. But most importantly, the

disproportionate power of machine learning is threatening to redefine the nature of

political campaigning in Western democracies. In the aftermath of World War II,

political parties sought to broaden their appeal to prevent a significant number of voters

from falling into the hands of small, mobilized political factions with anti-democratic

sentiments. Each Western nation had a select number of “catch all” parties, which

ensured the continued function of legislative chambers by promoting a sense of

compromise and keeping small factions from breaking parliaments into chambers of

multiple warring factions. A political party’s chances of winning general elections

depended on its ability to widen its appeal. That is hardly the case anymore. In the last

three years turnout has replaced wide appeal as the new golden chalice of politics.

108

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Today, successful campaigns use machine learning to identify a select few voters and

then motivate them to turn out. Very few candidates worry about voicing the concerns

of the majority. Instead, most use data patterns to identify the voters most likely to turn

out and then mobilize them.243 In November 2016, between 5,000 and 10,000 protesters

marched in a demonstration organized on Facebook by a Russian propaganda

account.244 A few more political cycles in this direction, and it is not hard to imagine a

regression of Western political systems to those of the 1930s, where Western

democracies were threatened by a proliferation of small political parties with fanatical

followers more interested in disrupting democratic governments than participating in

them.

Technology companies have set up large psychology departments which assist in

manipulating human behavior through the coding process. Moral outrage happens to be

the greatest engager of all. “There is a whole contingent of actors who are actively trying

to gin up outrage,” says Dr. Sarah Sobieraj. “This has become a mode of persuasion that

is everywhere.”245 Stanford University researcher Marc Smith developed a program,

243 Dominic Cummings, "On the Referendum #20: The Campaign, Physics and Data Science – Vote Leave’s ‘Voter Intention Collection System’ (VICS) Now Available for All," https://dominiccummings.com/2016/10/29/on-the-referendum-20-the-campaign-physics-and-data-science- vote-leaves-voter-intention-collection-system-VICS-now-available-for-all/. 244 Ali Breland, "Thousands Attended Protest Organized by Russians on Facebook," The Hill, https://thehill.com/policy/technology/358025-thousands-attended-protest-organized-by-russians-on- facebook. 245 Jeffrey M. Berry and Sarah Sobieraj, The Outrage Industry Political Opinion Media and the New Incivility (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016). 109

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

NodeXL, which analyzes and visualizes social media chatter. Smith analyzed the 2017-

2018 U.S. 115th Senate co-voting network. He found deep engagement and chatter in two

distinct groups, shown below. Of note, is that chatter is seen to be happening among

democrats and republicans but not between them.246

Figure 4-2: Political Chatter Diagram247

This diagram is a result of Hullman’s study of Tweeter. An independent study

shows that people almost always retweet other people who have political viewpoints

similar to their own, demonstrating how little positive engagement takes place between

opposing political viewpoints on Twitter.248 Polarization of society is a business strategy

246 Derek L. Hansen, Ben Schneiderman, and Marc A. Smith, Analyzing Social Media Networks with NodeXL: Insights from a Connected World, 2019. 247 Jessica Hullman, “The Purpose of Visualization Is Insight, Not Pictures: An Interview with Visualization Pioneer Ben…,” Medium, March 14, 2019, https://medium.com/multiple-views-visualization-research- explained/the-purpose-of-visualization-is-insight-not-pictures-an-interview-with-visualization-pioneer-ben- beb15b2d8e9b. 248 M. D. Conover, J. Ratkiewicz, M. Francisco, B. Gonc alves,̧ A. Flammini, F. Menczer in Intelligence Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media 110

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

for technology companies. A few months ago, YouTube recommended content with

words such as “hate,” “debunked,” “obliterated,” and “destroyed” alongside certain

videos. Although dependent on the search performed by the user, YouTube still showed

bias towards sensational conspiratorial content. A teenager searching for diet videos was

served anorexia content and searches for the moon landing recommended flat earth or

moon landing conspiracy videos. Research done by Bellingcat.com shows that over fifty

percent of white nationalists claim to have been “red-pilled” (come to accept a concept

that is hard to trust)249 on YouTube.250 Add to this a Columbia University finding that

60% of users share a link that they have not clicked on or read.251

None of this offers much optimism for future political campaigns. Computers are

currently the best performers among political campaigners. They spread the candidate’s

message to the highest number of voters, they reach the highest number of donors, and

they process the most data at the quickest pace. It is not hard to imagine a future where

machines may suggest campaign strategies to candidates by offering the most lucrative

target group of voters for the candidate to message, nor is it hard to imagine machines

International, and ICWSM, Proceedings of the Fifth International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media 17-21 July 2011, Barcelona, Spain (Menlo Park, Calif: AAAI Press, 2011). 249 Dictionary.com, “What Does Red Pill Mean?”, https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/red-pill/. 250 Robert Evans, "From Memes to Infowars: How 75 Fascist Activists Were “Red-Pilled”," Bellingcat, https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2018/10/11/memes-infowars-75-fascist-activists-red-pilled/. 251 Maksym Gabielkov et al., "Social Clicks: What and Who Gets Read on Twitter?" (paper presented at the ACM SIGMETRICS / IFIP Performance 2016, Antibes Juan-les-Pins, France, 2016-06-14 2016). 111

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

offering specific policies by showing candidates which issues are the most pressing

among their target base. Nine out of ten fake news websites from the month before the

2016 election were still in the top ten across Twitter almost two years later.252

In politics, as in the case of economics, we are not far from surrendering our

control over defining the ends of our activities. Many populist candidates are currently

using data analysis to confirm their instincts, whether it be Trump using data to confirm

his instinct that immigration is the most pressing concern among Republican voters or

the Brexit campaign using data to confirm its suspicion that most “Leave” candidates

would not be deterred by dire economic warnings of a post-Brexit stagnation. The

danger that AI poses to Western political systems is that it threatens to create candidates

who merely follow the direction of data-analyzing machines when deciding who to

target and what to propose. The purposes of these candidates would be defined by

inanimate machines, which could easily replace human voters as de-facto masters of the

political system. The first obvious consequence would be an increase in the number of

candidates who run for office with no plan for government whatsoever. And why

should they have a plan when electoral victory would be guaranteed by following the

directions of machines, rather than by having a firm grasp on key issues? Secondly, we

252 Matthew Hindman and Vlad Barash, "Disinformation, Fake News and Influence Campaigns on Twitter," (John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, 2018).

112

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

may see increasing numbers of candidates who merely pander to their supporters’ base

instincts. American entomologist and biologist Edward Wilson states it best. He notes

that the real problem with humanity is: “we have Palaeolithic emotions, medieval

institutions, and god-like technology.”253 This leaves humanity ill-equipped for

government, since most Western political systems can only function when all sides

display a modicum of inclination to compromise with political opponents. However, in

an age where turnout carries more political value than wide appeal, political systems are

likely to be dominated by candidates who follow the most passionate of their

supporters, who, in turn, are likely to sympathize with extremism and disregard any

notion of compromise. The mismatch between the traditional Western political systems

and AI-produced uncompromising candidates is likely to lead to government paralysis

and even greater discontent, as countries will be governed by people whose political

experience offers them no guidance on navigating the political system they are elected to

lead. In 2013, Facebook developed TAO, a social graph that stores comprehensive

information about every one of its two billion users.254 It’s best imagined as an avatar of

each user residing in a supercomputer, ready to influence the user with recommended

253 "An Intellectual Entente," Harvard Magazine (2009). 254 Zach Amsden Nathan Bronson, George Cabrera, Prasad Chakka, Peter Dimov and Jack Ferris Hui Ding, Anthony Giardullo, Sachin Kulkarni, Harry Li, Mark Marchukov Dmitri Petrov, Lovro Puzar, Yee Jiun Song, Venkat Venkataramani Facebook, Inc., "Tao: Facebook's Distributed Data Store for the Social Graph," in 2013 USENIX Annual Technical Conference (San Jose, CA2013). 113

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

content and advertising and, in so doing, achieve the company’s global goals. Through

this system, Cambridge Analytica was able to determine the political personality of

users based on as little as 150 “likes” a user might have clicked on Facebook.255 The

white nationalist “stop Islamization of America” protest at the Da’wah Islamic Centre in

Houston was organized from Russia by Russians using Facebook groups.256 At present,

AI is already able to predict the political alignment of individuals by analyzing texts on

Twitter.257

The danger AI presents to Western civilization is clear. The contemporary world

order was established during the age of reason, when human knowledge supplanted

religious doctrine as the foundation of human society. Since then, governments have

gradually moved away from trying to construct societies governed by religious order to

societies governed by human reason. Statesmen had a new role: instead of imposing a

religious creed on mortal beings through law, they now attempted to translate human

experience into legal systems. As a result, nations gradually moved towards democracy

and governments increasingly saw their calling in leading their societies towards

255 Hannes Grassegger and Mikael Krogerus, "The Data That Turned the World Upside Down," Vice, https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mg9vvn/how-our-likes-helped-trump-win. 256 Casey Michel, "Organizers Behind Armed White Supremacist Protest in Houston Revealed as Russian," Think Progress, https://thinkprogress.org/armed-white-supremacist-protest-organized-by-russians- d730f83ca275/. 257 Michael D. Conover et al., "Predicting the Political Alignment of Twitter Users," in IEEE Third Int'l Conference on Privacy, Security Risk and Trust IEEE Third Int'l Conference on Social Computing (2011).

114

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

evolution. This evolution was to be achieved by implementing an elevated doctrine

(such as the human need to be free) which would be achieved by progressive

compromise between societies’ different factions, the existence of which was based on

varying human experience. In these democratic systems, candidates tried to reflect the

positive visions of their electorates, which the electorate would convey through polling

and other methods of public discourse. The candidates would then attempt to

implement these visions by suggesting government policy that compromised between

elevated intention and mundane reality. This made evolution possible, allowing for the

existence of multiple different interest groups within a single society without paralyzing

the work of governments.

A political system where candidates are produced by AI threatens to erode the

contemporary political order. AI threatens to make emotion the most valuable currency

in the political system, since candidates would be encouraged to appeal to the most

passionate voters likely to turn out and vote. During the 2016 election cycle nearly

twenty percent of tweets aimed at strengthening political alignment among voters were

issued by bots, with no human intervention.258 Candidates who owe their existence to

passionate minorities tend to prioritize confrontation over compromise and radicalism

258 A. Bessi and E. Ferrara, "Social Bots Distort the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election Online Discussion," First Monday 21, no. 11 (2016). 115

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

over moderation. Research has shown that Google search results can shift the voting

preferences of undecided voters by 20% or more, with users having virtually no

awareness of the manipulation at work in the background.259

In this context, a growing chasm is likely to emerge between politics and

government. In other words, to succeed in a campaign, candidates are likely to need

qualities that are at odds with the qualities they need to succeed in government. Most

Western citizens today feel their governments show little ability to tackle pressing

problems, but that feeling is likely to become more prevalent as the gap widens between

candidates and their ability to relate to and meet the needs of the people. Currently, the

most threatening problems to society are international, relating to the environment,

nuclear war, and cultural tension, while AI threatens to put leaders in charge who will

instinctively appeal to emotional minorities and pursue total victories rather than

compromise-based solutions.

4.3 Theological and ethical implications

A theological understanding of humanity and its relationship to God and the

world is being redefined by the development of AI. The creation myths that we

surveyed clearly place the responsibility of bringing order from chaos on humanity (cf.

259 Robert Epstein and Ronald E. Robertson, "The Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME) and Its Possible Impact on the Outcomes of Elections," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112, no. 33 (2015). 116

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Genesis 1:28). Unless humanity can find a way to fuse this same moral image they

possess into AI, the world risks creating “masters” that will lead and direct the affairs of

humanity from a purely utilitarian position. The intent, purpose, and goal programmed

in AI will determine its behavior. An AI programmed for maximum financial

profitability will strive to achieve such profitability at all costs, which could work

against humanity, life, order, and human flourishing on our planet. With humanity

being created in the image of God and being brought to life with the breath of God, one

can see how the moral and ethical foundation of humanity ought to be found in God.

In discussing Karl Barth’s theology of creation, David Fergusson draws attention

to the way creation is “infused with the divine spirit” and how “the natural world has a

mysterious potency which shapes the religious and ethical life of self-conscious

agents.”260 This infusion of the divine into the natural carries implications for AI

development and how it should ultimately be seen when viewed through a theological

lens. Could it be said that AI will ultimately need to possess the divine Spirit in order to

be truly considered a living entity?

Central to Barth’s discussion on creation is the idea of “covenant,” which speaks

of God’s intention to work in relationship and partnership with humanity. Barth sees

260 David Fergusson, “Karl Barth’s Doctrine of Creation: Church-Bells beyond the Stars,” International Journal of Systematic Theology 18, no. 4 (October 1, 2016): 416, https://doi.org/10.1111/ijst.12144. 117

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Jesus as the Archetype of humanity, and it is in Jesus that we see how humanity is to

interact with creation, fellow human beings, and with God.261 When considering the

creation account and God’s original dealings with humanity, it seems incongruent to

think that AI can replace humanity. Relationship was central to the first created beings,

relationship with God and interpersonal relationship with each other. In Genesis we see

God’s concern with Adam’s loneliness and the way God addresses this need through the

creation of Eve. Central to the creation account is the relational damage caused by

humanity’s sinfulness. It is then only through the Archetype, Jesus, that this relationship

is restored. The resultant responsibility to come from humanity’s reconciliation with

God is that humanity is now given the work of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18), once

again emphasizing the relational priority of human existence.

In generating a particular conceptual space between God and creatures,

relationship becomes the necessary condition for the form of divine address to human

beings. Instead of an expression of sheer divine power, the creation ex nihilo should be

understood in the context of the ethical determination of human beings by God. Our

creaturely status places us at once in a relationship that is characterized in personal

terms such as responsibility, agency, freedom and love. The language of covenant is thus

closely interlinked with the creation ex nihilo. Hence a relationality is intended and

261 Colin Brown, “Karl Barth’s Doctrine of the Creation,” Churchman 76, no. 2 (1962): 100-102. 118

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

established by virtue of God’s creating from nothing.262 This aligns with Dennis J.

Snower’s discussion on “decoupling.” Snower notes how development and production

is growing at the expense of social and environmental capital, a phenomenon he refers

to as a “dangerous decoupling.”263 This “decoupling” will have an economic and social

impact; however, it will also have a theological and ethical impact as the role and nature

of humanity will change with the onset of a more AI-driven society. Most notably it will

“call into question our understanding of what, fundamentally, it means to be human.” 264

Consider the recent institution of a robot priest in a 400-year-old Buddhist temple in

Kyoto, Japan. The robot can bless people, give advice, and even perform funerals.265 As

efficient as this may seem, it cannot take the place of the biblical model of priesthood,

whereby the priest stands as mediator between God and humanity. Moral, ethical, and

theological implications need to be considered in situations such as this. As noted,

robots such as this do not carry the breath of God and will therefore be functional

machines void of the divine Spirit, which brings morality, ethics and relationships to

262 Fergusson, “Karl Barth’s Doctrine of Creation: Church-Bells beyond the Stars,” 417. 263 Dennis J. Snower, “The Dangerous Decoupling,” 2017, p. 6, https://www.g20-insights.org/wp- content/uploads/2017/05/The-Dangerous-Decoupling.pdf. 264 Snower, “The Dangerous Decoupling,” 1-2. 265 Sigal Samuel, “Robot Priests Can Bless You, Advise You, and Even Perform Your Funeral,” Vox, September 9, 2019, https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/9/9/20851753/ai-religion-robot-priest-mindar- buddhism-christianity. 119

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

humanity. It stands to reason that a living God is best served by a living priesthood. AI

can simulate life, but it cannot truly live without being infused with the divine Spirit.

As AI develops and functions within a society transitioning from human to

machine, theology will need to play an important role in determining what makes us

truly human. There is a need for more intentional theological work aimed at developing

a robust anthropology, which will help create a deeper understanding regarding

humanity and what sets us apart from what humanity can create.

Patients are asking plastic surgeons to alter their faces to look like their filtered

faces on social photo applications. These requests are so common that doctors have

coined the term “Snapchat dysmorphia” to describe the condition.266 Facebook’s

dominance in political campaigns has already cost lives in both Sri Lanka267 and

Myanmar.268 Studies have shown that children being “cyber bullied” are three times

more likely to consider suicide compared to children who are bullied in the traditional

way.269 Technology is clearly having an impact on the social cohesion of society, and

266 Kamleshun Ramphul and Stephanie Mejias, ‘Is "Snapchat Dysmorphia’ a Real Issue?”, Cureus 10 (2018). 267 John Harris, "In Sri Lanka, Facebook’s Dominance Has Cost Lives," The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/06/sri-lanka-facebook-lives-tech-giant-poor- countries. 268 Manish Singh, "After Harsh Criticism, Facebook Quietly Pulls Services from Developing Countries," The Outline, https://theoutline.com/post/4383/facebook-quietly-ended-free-basics-in-myanmar-and-other- countries?zd=2&zi=ufdu4ppm. 269 Mitch van Geel, Paul Vedder, and Jenny Tanilon, "Bullying and Weapon Carrying: A Meta-Analysis," JAMA Pediatrics 168, no. 8 (2014). 120

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

there is a need to acknowledge this impact and address it, especially seeing as the

development of AI will intensify this onslaught.

The “presentation” stakes on photo applications like Instagram not only conceal

the reality, but also result in dissociation, detachment, and a sense of regret. Tavi

Gevinsen, an actress and influencer on social media platforms recently wrote about her

Instagram life: “When I review posts . . . I almost envy my own life as though it were

someone else’s.”270 The founder of a Christian veterans’ group recently discovered how

Google has banned the word “Christian”271 on its YouTube platform and blocked

Christian and conservative organizations from advertising.272 This is now being done in

addition to demonetizing conservative religious channels.273 With the help of AI

technology, thousands of organizations’ voices can easily be silenced with the click of a

mouse, serving whatever agenda is most prominent within that given organization

without. For Google it’s simply a matter of banning advertising from groups and

individuals that are not aligned with the company’s values. Google is still, however,

largely considered a left leaning organization, and so it can be expected that this will

270 Carrie Battan, "The Rise of the ‘Getting Real’ Post on Instagram," The New Yorker, https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-rise-of-the-getting-real-post-on-instagram. 271 Russian Today (RT), “Unacceptable Content? YouTube Ad Policy Bans Keyword ‘Christian,’” 2019, https://www.rt.com/news/465100-christian-keyword-unacceptable-youtube-ad/. 272 Samuel Smith, "Is Youtube Targeting Christians and Conservatives with Its Advertising Policy?”, The Christian Post, https://www.christianpost.com/news/is-youtube-targeting-christians-and-conservatives-with- its-advertising-policy-198744/?page=2. 273 Michael Brown, "Youtube Just Demonetized Hundreds of Our Videos," The Christian Post, https://www.christianpost.com/news/youtube-just-demonetized-hundreds-of-our-videos-196268/. 121

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

drive their agenda and values.274 When considering Google’s size and impact around the

world, it is easy to see how technology companies such as this can and will push culture

in a certain direction.

Two key issues discussed here are the scale of deployment of technology and its

ability to impact billions of people within seconds. Also, with the use of AI, the real-time

monitoring and speed of execution is increasing exponentially. An illegal road crossing

in China can now be detected using AI, which will not only report the offense but will

also recognize the person. AI will register an infraction on the individual’s name and

detract from that person’s Social Credit Score (which gives access to China’s utilities and

benefits programs).275 What few understand is that China’s Belt and Road initiative

(BRI), a long-term plan to optimize the previous silk road trading route, has a digital

version. China is deploying this same face recognition technology in 58 pilot countries

that have signed up to be part of the BRI. It’s culturally acceptable to be monitored by

authorities in China:

“What does it mean for 58 pilot countries to have in their hands a technology capable of mining and refining and learning about all of their citizens, and reporting any infractions on up to authorities?' In places like the Philippines, where free speech right now is questionable, this kind of technology, which does not make sense to us as Americans, may make slightly more sense to

274 Philipp Schindler, "Expanded Safeguards for Advertisers," Google, https://www.blog.google/technology/ads/expanded-safeguards-for-advertisers/. 275 Paul Mozur, "Inside China’s Dystopian Dreams: A.I., Shame and Lots of Cameras," The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/08/business/china-surveillance-technology.html. 122

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

people in China, becomes a dangerous weapon in the hands of an authoritative, an authoritarian regime elsewhere in the world.”276

Though technology has brought many blessings, it also brings many unintended

consequences. By allowing AI and algorithms to control a great deal of what we see and

do online, we may inadvertently be creating a “father of a digital Frankenstein,” steering

billions of people’s attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. How can the church can become

credible in taking leadership to ensure such technologies lead to a flourishing of life and

civilization in the age to come?

276 Amy Webb, Amy Webb on Artificial Intelligence, Humanity, and the Big Nine, podcast audio2019, https://www.econtalk.org/amy-webb-on-artificial-intelligence-humanity-and-the-big-nine/#audio- highlights. 123

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

5. AI and the Church

Tertullian aptly criticized the relationship between philosophy and religion:

“What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?”277 Brian Patrick Green paraphrases, “What has

technology to do with Theology” or more anachronistically, “What has Silicon Valley to

do with Jerusalem (or Rome)?”278 The breadth and depth of technological development

,specifically the advancement of AI, calls for the consideration of religious tradition and

thought. Unfortunately, the church has largely remained silent. Is it possible that the

church is unknowingly and unintentionally neglecting its responsibility to the new sins

that are emerging within the church and its broader context? This would not be the first

time the church has neglected its responsibility to society. Over the past few decades the

world has been wrestling with the AIDS epidemic; for the most part, the church entered

this conversation too late. Given nearly 50% of all health care in Africa is provided by

the Catholic Church in one form or another, the church had a real chance to bring the

gospel into the AIDS discussion and impact communities in a Christian manner through

medical care and participation, had it acted sooner.

277 Tertullian, De Praescriptione Haereticorum, trans. T. Herbert Bindley (London and Bungay: Richard Clay and Sons, 1914), Chapter 7. 278 Brian Patrick Green, “The Catholic Church and Technological Progress: Past, Present, and Future.,” Religions 8, no. 6 (June 2017): 106. 124

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

5.1 AI and ethics

Ethics and AI has become a prominent focus amongst secular institutions and

technology companies. Google formed an ethics board and formulated a charter in this

regard, though it did so reacting to employee complaints about the company’s work

with a Pentagon AI project code named “Project Maven.”279 Google’s London subsidiary

has done the same thing.280 Microsoft has drafted its own AI principles,281 forming an AI

ethics committee as of 2018.282 Partnering with the National Science Foundation,

Amazon has sponsored research into “fairness in AI.”283 Facebook established an AI

research center in Germany.284 IBM has also spoken about the ethical impact of AI and is

addressing issues such as removing racial bias from facial recognition systems.

279 Dani Deahl, “Google Employees Demand the Company Pull out of Pentagon AI Project,” The Verge, April 4, 2018, https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/4/17199818/google-pentagon-project-maven-pull-out-letter-ceo- sundar-pichai. 280 Alex Hern, “Whatever Happened to the DeepMind AI Ethics Board Google Promised?”, The Guardian, January 26, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/26/google-deepmind-ai-ethics-board. 281 “Responsible AI Principles from Microsoft,” Microsoft, accessed February 15, 2020, https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/responsible-ai. 282 Microsoft News Center and Satya Nadella, “Satya Nadella Email to Employees: Embracing Our Future: Intelligent Cloud and Intelligent Edge,” Stories, March 29, 2018, https://news.microsoft.com/2018/03/29/satya-nadella-email-to-employees-embracing-our-future-intelligent- cloud-and-intelligent-edge/. 283 “NSF Program on Fairness in Artificial Intelligence in Collaboration with Amazon (FAI) (Nsf19571), NSF - National Science Foundation,” accessed February 15, 2020, https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2019/nsf19571/nsf19571.htm?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT.mc_ev=click. 284 Joaquin Quiñonero, “Facebook and the Technical University of Munich Announce New Independent TUM Institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence - About Facebook,” https://about.fb.com/news/2019/01/tum-institute-for-ethics-in-ai/. 125

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

However, as late as 2016, IBM’s technology was still in use in the Philippines, where it is

thought to have played a role in more than 200 extrajudicial killings.285

The problem with the AI ethics boards, committees, and charters being

established by big technology companies is that the companies do not reveal who serves

on these boards and whose interests are being addressed by their efforts. Such lack of

transparency, intentional or not, is having major ramifications on the deployment of

these entities. As discussed in chapter 4, AI and technology continues to negatively

impact our planet and communities. New York University’s AI Now Institute confirms

that there is very little, if any, evidence that these ethics boards have made a difference

in the ways AI is built and deployed.286 A North Carolina State University study showed

codes of conduct made no impact on developers or how they code programs.287 This is

evident in companies such as Google, who, after forming an ethics board, continued to

deliver AI technology to the Chinese government. The project in question was named

“Project Dragonfly,” a project many believe infringes on human rights. Google denies

continued involvement, but their employees have taken a closer look and think

285 George Joseph, “Inside the Video Surveillance Program IBM Built for Philippine Strongman Rodrigo Duterte,” The Intercept, March 20, 2019, https://theintercept.com/2019/03/20/rodrigo-duterte-IBM- surveillance/. 286 Meredith Whittaker et al., “AI Now Report 2018,” https://ainowinstitute.org/AI_Now_2018_Report.pdf. 287 Andrew McNamara, Justin Smith, and Emerson Murphy-Hill, “Does ACM’s Code of Ethics Change Ethical Decision Making in Software Development?”, Proceedings of the 2018 26th ACM Joint Meeting on European Software Engineering Conference and Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering (Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA: Association for Computing Machinery, 2018), https://doi.org/10.1145/3236024.3264833. 126

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

otherwise.288 Even though some algorithms are considered “ethical,” that also does not

necessarily rule out their use for highly unethical causes. The ethics boards established

by these technology giants remain powerless, with little to no authority to effect change

or stop projects. Their function is limited to that of an advisory board and little more.

Google employee Zach Vorhies presented over 950 pages of evidence to department of

justice showing company’s bias toward left wing liberal political parties.289 To

summarize, these companies have articulated that AI should treat all people fairly,

empower everyone, perform reliably and safely, be understandable, be secure, respect

privacy, and have algorithmic accountability. AI should align with existing human

values, be explainable, be fair, and respect user data rights. It should be used for socially

beneficial purposes and always remain under meaningful human control. Whether they

implement these values remains to be seen.

The noblest of these companies was OpenAI (openai.com), a nonprofit research

lab that started off with the following goal: “the lab wants to ensure that the technology

is developed safely, and its benefits distributed evenly to the world.” Within a few

288 Shannon Liao, “Google Employees Aren’t Convinced That Dragonfly Is Dead,” The Verge, March 4, 2019, https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/4/18250285/google-dragonfly-censored-search-engine-code-dead- employees-doubt. 289 Didi Rankovic, “Google Leaker Zach Vorhies Delivers Trove of Data Showing Google Biases to the Department of Justice,” reclaimthenet.org, August 14, 2019, https://reclaimthenet.org/google-leaker-zach- vorhies-doj/.

127

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

years, not only did the lab turn for-profit and take a billion dollars from Microsoft, but

they also capped their return on investment to such investors to 100 times their

investment amounts.290

Nature magazine sees an awareness of ethics in AI as expanding globally, though

perhaps more so in the Northern Hemisphere.291 Eleven principles have emerged as

common and converging as a result of this exercise:

Figure 5-1: Ethical Principles Identified in Existing AI Guidelines292

The point that is missing in all this is the inability of a machine or algorithm to

embody or contain ethical principles. This is a discussion and conversation to be had

within a human context. Even there, it is likely to be no different from discussions where

people fail to agree on terms and words, much less on something as important as ethics.

290 Karen Hao, “The Messy, Secretive Reality behind OpenAI’s Bid to Save the World,” MIT Technology Review, accessed February 19, 2020, https://www.technologyreview.com/s/615181/ai-openai-moonshot-elonmusk-sam-altman-greg-brockman-messy-secretive-reality/. 291 Anna Jobin, Marcello Ienca, and Effy Vayena, “The Global Landscape of AI Ethics Guidelines,” Nature Machine Intelligence 1, no. 9 (September 2019): 389–99, https://doi.org/10.1038/s42256-019-0088-2. See also Appendix B and C. 292 Nature Magazine, “Table 3 Ethical Principles Identified in Existing AI Guidelines,” accessed February 19, 2020, https://www.nature.com/articles/s42256-019-0088-2/tables/3. 128

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Within our current polarized society, liberals struggle to agree with conservatives in

matters such as redistribution. Words like gig economy, collaborative economy, and a

sharing economy are interpreted as “insecure temporary employment,” “cheap

outsourced labor,” and “largely unregulated online rentals.” The California legislature

has rewritten the law defining the concept of an employee, and, in so doing, has limited

employers from circumventing the payment of benefits to their employees. Employers

have, up until now, avoided this extra burden by seeing their employees as gig economy

workers.293 The motive behind most businesses is to enhance shareholder value, and in

the recent past we have even seen some companies assist totalitarian regimes in order to

boost these profits.294 Responsibility and accountability for ethics will ultimately lie with

the person in charge of programming the AI.

It is encouraging to see the Southern Baptist Convention joining this discussion

through their Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission with “Artificial Intelligence: An

Evangelical Statement of Principles.”295 This document addresses topics including data,

privacy, war, bias, sex, and medicine. Its treatment reckons with accountability and the

293 California Legislature, “Bill Text - AB-5 Worker Status: Employees and Independent Contractors,” accessed February 15, 2020, https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB5. 294 Madhumita Murgia and Christian Shepherd, “Western AI Researchers Partnered with Chinese Surveillance Firms,” April 19, 2019, https://www.ft.com/content/41be9878-61d9-11e9-b285-3acd5d43599e. 295 Staff, “Artificial Intelligence: An Evangelical Statement of Principles,” ERLC, April 11, 2019, https://erlc.com/resource-library/statements/artificial-intelligence-an-evangelical-statement-of-principles.

129

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

image of God. This document has taken shape despite the commission finding its origin

in a more conservative protestant group and sticking to a narrow slice of evangelical

dogma. It would be helpful if this discussion was broadened to include other Christian

groups such as the Dalit Christians of India or the Masai Christians of Tanzania. As

things stand, the commission struggles to part with American affirmations of just war

and traditional marriage. A lack of participation from industry experts in the field of AI

is also evident. For example, they say the following:

“We deny that any part of creation, including any form of technology, should ever be used to usurp or subvert the dominion and stewardship which has been entrusted solely to humanity by God; nor should technology be assigned a level of human identity, worth, dignity, or moral agency.”

The statement’s first claim is commendable, but its latter claim about moral

agency is unnecessary, given it assumes strong AI, which is both theoretical and perhaps

impossible.

“We deny that the use of AI is morally neutral. It is not worthy of man’s hope, worship, or love. Since the Lord Jesus alone can atone for sin and reconcile humanity to its Creator. Technology such as AI cannot fulfill humanity’s ultimate needs. We further deny the goodness and benefit of any application of AI that devalues or degrades the dignity and worth of another human being.”

Here again the initial judgment is sound but doesn’t go far enough because it

assumes strong AI.

“We affirm that, as a tool created by humans, AI will be inherently subject to bias and that these biases must be accounted for, minimized, or removed through 130

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

continual human oversight and discretion. AI should be designed and used in such ways that treat all human beings as having equal worth and dignity. AI should be utilized as a tool to identify and eliminate bias inherent in human decision-making.”

Once again, the statement’s first two claims are solid. However, the third is

outside of the realm of current research and is fraught with moral danger. It would be

helpful to further clarify what oversight would look like. What safeguards will be set in

place to ensure the absence of bias in the process? Who determines what is either

acceptable or unacceptable AI programming?

The Church must “above all protect mankind from self-destruction.” Brian Green

highlights these words spoken by Pope Francis regarding technology. Green draws

three conclusions about what that protection might entail: mitigating and adapting to

global catastrophic and existential risk, limiting the negative effects of transhumanism,

and encouraging space exploration and settlement.296 Generally speaking, more careful

attention needs to be given to these statements by adding further definitions and

qualifiers. Some big questions, many of which currently do not have satisfactory

answers, are not addressed as part of these principles. For example: How is human

existence defined? What does it mean to be human? What is consciousness? How does

this all impact the way we see AI, life, and death, or should we simply call AI “non-

296 Green, Palmer, and Corcoran, In Search of the Soul: Four Views of the Mind-Body Problem, 11. 131

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

life?” In addition to mathematical skills, AI has shown surprising artistic, social, and

linguistic skills. The Baptist commission fails by prescribing inaccurate caution guided

by unethical “informed consent” as a prerequisite. What about a curious mind and

continued improvement? Is it possible that research without “informed consent” could

save millions of lives? This is further affirmed in the document by stating “God alone

has power to create lives.” Creating a new bacterium is neither impossible nor immoral.

The roots of scientific enquiry are firmly placed in the Protestant Reformation and the

printing press, so should this be discouraged?

George Barna and David Kinnaman’s research on why young people leave the

church highlights anti-science as one of the reasons for such exile.297

“Dialogue, creative problem solving, living with questions and with ambiguity, group brainstorming, the opportunity to contribute — these are highly valued by the next generation. To the extent that we in the Christian community insist that young adults should just accept our “right” answers, we perpetuate a needless schism between science and faith.”298

They go on to note that most students are likely to lose their faith even before

college as they experience a disconnect from church.299 They call upon people of faith to

positively and prophetically address issues of faith and science and avoid hostility and

297 David Kinnaman and Aly Hawkins, You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church-- and Rethinking Faith (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2011). 298 Ibid, 135. 299 Ibid, 140. 132

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

ignorance in this regard.300 Connecting young, enquiring minds with mature Christians

in these fields of study is a possible solution to this problem. In this way they are aided

in how they think and not just in what to think.301

On the one hand, big technology companies have made a lot of noise about the

ethics of AI but only to avoid scrutiny and regulation. On the other hand, churches have

experienced exile due to their anti-science stance, when in fact churches exist as culture-

makers in the world. Cardinal Francis George of Chicago says it best: “I expect to die in

bed, my successor will die in prison, and his successor will die a martyr in the public

square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild

civilization, as the church has done so often in human history.”302 Is it possible for a

church which has taken a sort of mythical body, detached from science and reality, to

rebuild civilization?

5.2 Practical suggestions

Steps need to be taken if the church is to engage society, whether in a

preventative or reconstructive role. In this section, I will make some practical

suggestions in this regard.

300 Ibid, 143. 301 Ibid, 144-145. 302 Tim Drake, “Cardinal George: The Myth and Reality of ‘I’ll Die in My Bed,’” National Catholic Register, accessed February 15, 2020, https://www.ncregister.com/blog/tim-drake/the-myth-and-the-reality-of-ill-die- in-my-bed. 133

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

5.2.1 Revisiting Frankenstein

The diagram below represents a 16-step graphical representation of Victor’s

ambitions, and at first appears to be unrelated to technology. Ambitions drive people to

do amazing things, and in some cases, technologists have become successful. Mary

Shelley at no point discourages the invention of Frankenstein. She simply highlights the

detrimental effects of unbridled ambition for fame, glory, and recognition while giving

no consideration to the impact on the created technology, fellow humans, or on one’s

self. We have already examined the implications on Victor’s friends and his creation, but

how did this creation impact Victor himself? How is he impacted by success?

Figure 5-2: Introduction of Technology and Ethics with Resultant Chaos303

303 Shelley, Frankenstein. 134

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

We have already examined the implications on Victor’s friends and his creation,

but how did this creation impact Victor himself? How is he impacted by success? Victor

regrets what he has done and runs from his creation for two years, desperately trying to

avoid further harm. He does this until his death.

A large number of new technological inventions have come into existence since

Shelley’s novel. Kamran Loghman, the inventor of pepper spray, regrets his success. He

initially wrote down guidelines for its use but recent misuse of his product by police and

gangsters has made him regret his invention.304 Bob Propst’s invention of the office

cubicle was intended to give employees more privacy and freedom while working. He is

another inventor who ended up denouncing his creation, noting how the ideology of the

modern corporation’s cubicle-izing of people is a form of monolithic insanity.305 Tim

Berners Lee developed the internet to be an open forum for the world but regrets the

way his invention is used by companies such as Google and Facebook, which lock

people into the walls of their domains.306 Mikhail Kalashnikov is known as the inventor

of the AK47 assault rifle, which became the choice weapon for gangsters, terrorists, and

304 Rebecca J. Rosen, “‘I’ve Created a Monster!’ On the Regrets of Inventors,” The Atlantic, November 23, 2011, https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/11/ive-created-a-monster-on-the-regrets-of- inventors/249044/. 305 Aaron Taube, “The Man Who Invented The Cubicle Went To His Grave Hating What His Creation Had Become,” Business Insider, October 7, 2014, https://www.businessinsider.in/the-man-who-invented-the- cubicle-went-to-his-grave-hating-what-his-creation-had-become/articleshow/44632531.cms. 306 John Naughton, “Why Tim Berners-Lee Is No Friend of Facebook,” The Guardian, August 28, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/28/tim-berners-lee-open-web-mark-zuckerberg- facebook. 135

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

dictators all over the world. Just before his death, Kalashnikov wrote a letter to the head

of the Russian Orthodox Church asking whether he should be blamed for the deaths of

millions of people who have died from his invention over the last few decades. He

questioned God for allowing humanity to harbor such cruel urges and capacity for

greed and aggression.307 J. Robert Oppenheimer and his team at the Los Alamos

Laboratory during World War II believed that they were creating a safe world for

themselves and the citizens of their country. In his last years, Oppenheimer said that the

war had made humankind numb and that they had made a grave mistake in inventing

the atomic bomb, which causes such large scale destruction.308 The man whose name is

synonymous with the word “peace,” Alfred Noble, is credited with inventing dynamite,

which was to be used to efficiently blast through rock. After seeing how people were

misusing his invention for hurting and murdering people, he wrote in his will that most

of his assets should go to creating a fund that would reward people who brought

positive change in our world.309 All these figures have one thing in common with Victor

Frankenstein. They all regret their technological successes. What are the implications of

307 “AK-47 Rifle Inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov Wrote Letter Saying He Regretted Creating Weapon,” ABC News, January 13, 2014, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-13/ak-47-rifle-inventor-mikhail-kalashnikov- regrets-creating-weapon/5198396. 308 Paul Ham, “As Hiroshima Smouldered, Our Atom Bomb Scientists Suffered Remorse,” Newsweek, August 5, 2015, https://www.newsweek.com/hiroshima-smouldered-our-atom-bomb-scientists-suffered-remorse- 360125. 309 Mary Bellis, “Alfred Nobel and the History of Dynamite,” ThoughtCo, January 13, 2020, https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-dynamite-1991564. 136

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

a successful invention? This is a question that needs to be asked more often and given

more thought before an invention is undertaken. This consideration has been referred to

as a “pre-mortem.” This is, however, not the normal process taken by all people. In

many cases inventors announce their technologies pre-maturely. An example of this

would be Elon Musk tweeting about the release of a new software system for the Tesla

in 2015: “Some exciting news this week: Tesla Version 7 software with Autopilot goes to

wide release on Thursday!”310 Premature announcements such as this can result in

monstrous consequences and even the loss of life. In 2019 the BBC reported on a fatality

involving this new autopilot system.311 Illegal genetic experimentation by a Chinese

doctor serves as another example of unbridled human ambition. In this instance, China

called for the immediate halt to Dr. He Jiankui’s work following his announcement he

had helped make the world’s first gene-edited babies using a tool referred to as

CRISPR.312

Unethical and misleading behavior from the leaders of Theranos, a company

which purported to simplify blood analysis, resulted in the loss of human life and the

310 Elon Musk, “Elon Musk on Twitter: ‘Some Exciting News This Week: Tesla Version 7 Software with Autopilot Goes to Wide Release on Thursday!’,” Twitter, October 10, 2015, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/653005894922276865. 311 “Tesla Autopilot Engaged during Fatal Crash,” BBC News, May 17, 2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48308852. 312 Associated Press, “Chinese Doctor Who Made Gene-Edited Babies Acted on His Own,” Stat News, January 21, 2019, https://www.statnews.com/2019/01/21/china-doctor-gene-edited-babies/. 137

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

squandering of billions of dollars.313 Ambition and the intent of the human heart are key

to what we invent and why we do it. Ray Kurzweil, a prominent inventor and "futurist,"

has long predicted that mind and machine will one day merge. He believes he will one

day be able to speak to his dead father with the help of a computer: "I will be able to talk

to this re-creation … Ultimately, it will be so realistic it will be like talking to my

father.”314 It is appropriate to compare the ambitions of Ray Kurzweil to those of Victor

Frankenstein: “These are my enticements, and they are sufficient to conquer all fear of

danger or death, and to induce me to commence this laborious voyage with the joy a

child feels when he embarks in a little boat.”315 However, in his final words Victor says,

“Seek happiness in tranquility, and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparently

innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries. Yet why do I say this?

I have myself been blasted in these hopes, yet another may succeed”.316

313 Wills Robinson, “Scientist Ian Gibbons Committed Suicide ‘amid Fears Theranos’s CEO Was about to Fire Him,’” Daily Mail Online, September 9, 2016, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3776888/Award- winning-scientist-struggling-make-Theranos-blood-test-machines-work-committed-suicide-amid-fears- Silicon-Valley-firm-s-32-year-old-CEO-fire-claims-wife.html. 314 John Berman, “Futurist Ray Kurzweil Says He Can Bring His Dead Father Back to Life Through a Computer Avatar,” ABC News, August 9, 2011, https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/futurist-ray-kurzweil- bring-dead-father-back-life/story?id=14267712. 315 Shelley, Frankenstein, 43. 316 Ibid, 182. 138

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

It is time for the church to make its voice heard. Pope Francis has noted that “a

technology severed from ethics will not easily be able to limit its own power”.317 What is

needed more than improved technologies is a morally improved humanity.318 Kate Ott

in her book, Christian Ethics for a Digital Society, uses sound methods to introduce

moral and theological questions raised by an aspect of digital technology.319 She

addresses five components, namely, algorithms, the networked self, the permanence of

digital information, e-waste and environmental impacts, and ethical hacking, all of

which compromise a Christian social ethic.320 She discusses the role of forgiveness in a

world where forgetting has become luxury.321 She encourages engagement of the heart

and mind as a solution to this issue.322 Attempts by Ott are admirable but fall short of a

proper engagement with digital society. In Christianity there are many noble values,

however, the supreme value is that of love. Yampolskiy and Bostrom have outlined the

risks and dangers if safety engineering is not programmed in the AI in the research

labs.323 These serve as important safety reminders but still don’t address safeguards

317 Pope Francis, “Laudato Si’,” vatican.va, May 24, 2015, http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica- laudato-si.html., 136. 318 Green, Palmer, and Corcoran, In Search of the Soul: Four Views of the Mind-Body Problem, 10. 319 Kate M. Ott, Christian Ethics for a Digital Society (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2019). 320 Ibid, 10. 321 Ibid, 74. 322 Ibid, 91. 323 Roman V. Yampolskiy, Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security, Chapman & Hall/CRC Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Series 7 (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group, 2019); Nick Bostrom in G. E. Lasker and G. J. Van Schalkwyk, Cognitive, Emotive and Ethical Aspects of Decision Making in Humans 139

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

related to issues of the heart and human ambition. To speak of “love” as a guiding

principle in safeguarding technology is too broad and ambiguous a term to apply when

assessing technological progress. Technological development is best assessed through

the value of compassion. One of the names of God is “the father of compassion” (2

Corinthians 1:3). Jesus embodies the very essence of this compassion and relational care.

In Him, Christians are challenged to forsake their own desires and to act

compassionately towards others, particularly those in need.324 Is it possible for the

church to promote the idea of Compassionate Technological Administration (CTA),

which would be comprised of religious ethicists partnering with secular, industry,

public and government entities to review and endorse technologies? Within an entity

such as this, research can be assessed before being released. The United States Food and

Drug Administration (FDA) operates in this way, protecting public health by ensuring

the safety, efficacy, and the security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products,

and medical devices, and by ensuring the safety of our nation's food supply, cosmetics,

and products that emit radiation.325 In a pandemic like COVID-19, the FDA has been

able to maintain its values and prioritize safety regardless of the pressure it experiences

and in Artificial Intelligence (Windsor, Ont.: International Institute for Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics, 2007). 324 Khen Lampert, Traditions of Compassion: From Religious Duty to Social Activism, (New York; Gordonsville: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), chapter 1. 325 Office of the Commissioner, “What We Do,” U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA, November 3, 2011), https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/what-we-do. 140

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

from contemporary power structures.326 The formulation of an AI ethics entity such as

the CTA would operate in much the same way as the FDA but will operate with the

mandate to review and approve technologies through the lens of compassion.

5.2.2 Rediscover the scientific roots of the reformation

Publications of scientific theories and papers are insightful and helpful in

establishing facts about the flourishing of science. A number of particularly significant

discoveries were published from the fourth century BCE until the Reformation and

advent of the printing press. In 323 BCE, Euclid wrote thirteen books on geometry called

the Elements. In the second century BCE, Archimedes of Syracuse accurately

approximated pi. In 280 BCE, Aristarchus of Samos used a heliocentric and heliostatic

model. In 150 BCE, Seleucus of Seleucia discovered tides are caused by the moon. In 50

CE, Pliny the Elder wrote his Natural History.327 Theophrastus discovered a love potion

in the fourth century, Mandragora, containing atropine, which could treat wounds, gout,

and sleeplessness.328 In 150 CE, Ptolemy developed a geocentric model of the solar

system. In the Greco-Roman world, formal education was limited to the sons of wealthy

people. About the same time as Ptolemy, Justin Martyr established schools in Ephesus

326 Charles Piller, “‘This Is Insane!’ Many Scientists Lament Trump’s Embrace of Risky Malaria Drugs for Coronavirus,” Science AAAS, March 26, 2020, https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/insane-many- scientists-lament-trump-s-embrace-risky-malaria-drugs-coronavirus. 327 Pliny, John F. Healy, and Pliny, Natural History: A Selection (London; New York: Penguin Books, 2004). 328 Holzman R.S., “The Legacy of Atropos, the Fate Who Cut the Thread of Life.,” Anesthesiology 89, no. 1 (1998): 241–49. 141

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

and Rome, that included the sons and daughters of all the people. Other schools quickly

spread through the region.329 In the 200s, Galen made contributions to the field of

medicine. Then, in the 900s, Al-Kindi refuted the theory of the transmutation of metals.

Jabir Ibr Hayyan also developed several acids during that time. The 10th century saw

three discoveries: Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi refuted the Aristotelian classical

elements and Galenic humorism. Measles, smallpox, kerosene and distilled petroleum

were discovered. Ibn Sahl described optics in 984 CE (now known as Snell’s law of

refraction). The Book of Optics was published by Ibn al-Haytham in 1021. The Canon of

Medicine was written by Avicenna during the same period. In 1054, astronomers

observed a Supernova (now known as SN 1054, or the Crab Nebula). The first theory of

geomorphology was discovered by Shen Kuo along with the concept of true north and

magnetic declination. The twelfth century saw four discoveries, namely the variation of

gravitation by Al-Khazini, reaction by Ibn Bajjah, force and acceleration by Hibat Allah

Abu’l-Barakat al-Baghdaadi, and kinetic energy by Averroes. A mere eight discoveries

were made in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries: the empirical scientific method by

Robert Grosseteste, pulmonary circulation by Ibn al-Nafis, an explanation of the

rainbow by Theodoric of Freiberg, use of the camera to view solar eclipses by William of

Saint-Cloud, Occam’s Razor in 1327, the mean speed theorem, the theory of impetus by

329 Alvin J. Schmidt, How Christianity Changed the World (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004), 171. 142

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Jean Buridan, and the discovery of the curvature of light through atmospheric

refractions by Nicole Oresme.

These twenty-eight major scientific discoveries made in the fourteen centuries

prior to the Christian reformation of the 16th century can be captured in under 500

words in the paragraph above. After the Christian reformation, hundreds of scientific

discoveries were made, too many to list here. Of these discoveries, people like

Copernicus, Vesalius, Servetus, Tycho Brahe, William Gilbert, Johanne Kepler, Galileo,

William Harvey, Torricelli, Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton, Kant, Messier, Pascal, Volta,

Dalton, Ohm, Faraday, and Joule all made scientific discoveries that still contribute

towards human flourishing today. The Reformation can be seen as a catalyst to science

and scientific discoveries.330 Johannes Kepler, the namesake of one of NASA’s telescopes,

said the following: “God, like a master builder, has laid the foundation of the world

according to law and order. God wanted us to recognize those laws by creating us after

His image so we could share in His own thought.”331

Gregor Mendel, an Austrian Catholic monk born in 1822, was the first to discover

the basic principles of heredity through experiments in his garden. Mendel's

330 Donald K. Sharpes, Advanced Educational Foundations for Teachers: The History, Philosophy, and Culture of Schooling (New York: RoutledgeFalmer, 2002). 331 Edna Devore, “Closing in on Extrasolar Earths Space,” accessed February 15, 2020, https://www.space.com/5531-closing-extrasolar-earths.html; Michele Johnson, “Mission overview,” NASA, April 13, 2015, http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/overview/index.html. 143

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

observations became the foundation of modern genetics and the study of heredity, and

he is widely considered a pioneer in the field of genetics.332 Christopher Hitchens calls

Francis Collins one of the greatest living Americans and one of the most devout

believers he has ever met.333 Collins led the human genome project and is serving as the

director of the National Institutes of Health under both Presidents Barack Obama and

Donald J. Trump.334

Jaroslav Pelikan writes:

“One may perhaps begin to comprehend how completely Christ the Monk conquered the scholarly world of the Middle Ages by checking, in the standard modern editions, how many works of antiquity even exist for us today only because they were copied by monks in some medieval scriptorium… [works of] not only Christian saints but of classical and pagan authors.”335

In his book, How the Irish Saved Civilization, Thomas Cahill shows how monks

and Christian communities copied every ancient text they could get their hands on. For

many centuries, monasteries were the only institutions in Europe for the acquisition,

preservation, and transmission of knowledge.336

332 “Gregor Mendel,” Biography, accessed February 15, 2020, https://www.biography.com/scientist/gregor- mendel. 333 Ilisbaani, Christopher Hitchens Says “I’m Dying.,” accessed February 15, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc6UdA3TtWY. 334 “Past NIH Directors - The NIH Almanac - National Institutes of Health (NIH),” May 22, 2013, https://web.archive.org/web/20130522144505/http://www.nih.gov/about/almanac/historical/directors.htm. 335 Jaroslav Pelikan, Jesus through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 1985), 120. 336 Thomas Cahill, How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to Rise of Medieval Europe (New York: Doubleday, 1996), 159. 144

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Cyril invented the Cyrillic script to give a written language to the Slavs.337

Universities came out of Christian monasteries. The motto of Oxford University

established in the thirteenth century is Psalm 27:1 “The Lord is my light.” Universities

spread across Europe to France, Italy, Austria, and Germany. In explaining the

conversion of my father, David Kasbe, from a Dalit outcaste of India to the Christian

religion, John Ortberg invokes the amendment Jesus made to the greatest

commandment, the Shema: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all

your soul and with all your mind.”338 Jesus added the word “mind.” Ortberg goes on to

explain, “To love God with your mind begins with being curious about God. We may go

weeks, months, or even years without ever wondering, “Is there Somebody who made

this world? What’s he like?” For followers of Jesus, however, loving God with “all your

mind” meant even more. They believed Jesus taught that God created everything, that

God thought everything up. Therefore, anytime we learn something true, anytime we

learn about how creation works, or even about math or logic, we are actually thinking

God’s thoughts after him. We are getting to know God, and we do that because we love

337 Stefan Rohdewald, “Figures of (Trans-) National Religious Memory of the Orthodox Southern Slavs before 1945: An Outline on the Examples of SS. Cyril and Methodius,” Trames-Journal of The Humanities and Social Sciences 12 (January 1, 2008), https://doi.org/10.3176/tr.2008.3.04. 338 John Ortberg, Who Is This Child? From Common Babe to King of Kings (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012), 59-73. 145

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

him. Learning can become an act of worship. Jesus’ followers said that learning about

anything helps us to know and love God better. They loved truth.”339

In America, the first law to require mass universal education was declared in

Massachusetts in 1647.340 It is therefore no surprise that America leads the world in

innovation across the board in science, math, technology, arts and economics, and other

fields of study. Within six years of arriving in America, the pilgrims established a

reputable university with John 17:3 as its motto, establishing Christ as the only

foundation of all sound knowledge and learning. This university is Harvard

University.341 All Ivy league universities (excluding Cornell) and about 92% of another

138 colleges and universities in America were built on biblical principles of education for

all. In my home country, most schools and colleges even today have Christian names

because they came out of the missionary movement “shining the light of education” in

dark parts of the world. My country’s entire genealogy is littered with illiteracy due to

the enslavement of the Hindu caste system. After my father’s conversion to Christianity,

he learned to read and write using the Bible from missionaries in India. Ortberg writes

of that legacy, which extends to me,

339 Ibid. 340 Constitution Society, “The Old Deluder Act (1647),” accessed February 15, 2020, https://www.constitution.org/primarysources/deluder.html. 341 George M. Marsden, The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief (New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994), 33-34. 146

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

“Timothy graduated with an engineering degree, an MBA from Duke University, and an advanced degree from Moore College Sydney, and he currently serves as distinguished visiting scholar at Stanford University. He explained that vast amounts of higher education in India have their roots in the Jesus movement. The Stanford family who began that university where Timothy is now a scholar also supported in its early days the church in Menlo Park that I now serve. The ripples do not stop.”342

Given this history, how can the church possibly be anti-science? It is time for the

church to call on millions of believers who are scientists, engineers, economists, and

lawyers and start the dialog of how to make science mainstream in the church. The

church must develop programs to make it more inviting to science forums, experiments,

and discovery, from children all the way to retirees.

5.2.3 Move the discussion from the front of the Bible to the middle of the Bible

We have reviewed the creation account and other myths to survey fiction and the

creation story. There are sincere people who espouse young earth creationism, old earth

creationism, gap creationism, day-age creationism, progressive creationism, scientific

creationism, neo-creationism, intelligent design, geo-creationism, the Omphalos

hypothesis, and theistic evolution. I am not here to judge any of these views. Recent

work by S. Joshua Swamidass, a physician, scientist, and assistant professor of

Laboratory and Genomic Medicine at Washington University in Saint Louis is helpful.

342 Ortberg, Who Is This Child? From Common Babe to King of Kings, 59-73. 147

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

He leads a computational biology group that studies information at the intersection of

biology, chemistry, and medicine.343 He goes a long way towards starting the dialog

around differentiating genealogy versus genetics. His insights about those wandering

outside the garden of Eden while the creation was being formed harmonizes creation

with evolutionary theories. Science can’t disprove Eden, and the Bible is silent on

evolution.344

Focusing on disagreement is not helpful. As more computational power becomes

available, we are going to discover more about our planet and universes. Why stay at

the front of the Bible in the creation account when the main theme of the Bible is about

Jesus, the only Son of God, the resurrected one? Focusing on Jesus and the cross is the

only way to reconcile with the world and science. A sense of the irrelevance of religion

and faith is nothing new. Mathew Arnold penned these words on his honeymoon in a

poem called “Dover Beach,” in 1849:345

The sea is calm to-night, The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits;—on the French coast, the light Gleams, and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. Come to the window, sweet is the night-air! Only, from the long line of spray

343 http://swami.wustl.edu/ 344 Joshua Swamidass, “The Overlooked Science of Genealogical Ancestry,” Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 70, no. 1 (March 2018): 19–35. 345 Matthew Arnold, The Poems of Matthew Arnold, ed. Kenneth Allott (London: Longmans, 1965).

148

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Where the ebb meets the moon-blanch’d sand, Listen! You hear the grating roar Of pebbles which the waves suck back, and fling, At their return, up the high strand, Begin, and cease, and then again begin, With tremulous cadence slow, and bring The eternal note of sadness in.

Sophocles long ago Heard it on the Ægæan, and it brought Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow Of human misery; we Find also in the sound a thought, Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

The sea of faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furl’d; But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating to the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world.

Ah, love, let us be true To one another! For the world, which seems To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night.

149

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Arnold evokes Sophocles, a fifth century BCE Greek playwright, who stood on

the shores of the Aegean Sea decrying “tragedies of fate and the will of gods,”346 whom

Arnold brings to an industrial nineteenth century. He hears in this sound the retreat of

religion and faith.347 Honan tells us

"The poem’s discourse shifts literally and symbolically from the present, to Sophocles on the Aegean, from Medieval Europe back to the present—and the auditory and visual images are dramatic and mimetic and didactic. Exploring the dark terror that lies beneath his happiness in love, the speaker resolves to love— and exigencies of history and the nexus between lovers are the poem's real issues. That lovers may be 'true / To one another' is a precarious notion: love in the modern city momentarily gives peace, but nothing else in a post-medieval society reflects or confirms the faithfulness of lovers. Devoid of love and light the world is a maze of confusion left by 'retreating' faith.”348

Christianity in peril is not a new concept. It seems as though the church has faced

challenges in the areas of church attendance, affiliation, and baptisms in every

generation. Christianity must take this opportunity to be what it was called to be: to

represent God’s kingdom and his future in our lifetime. In his 1983 lectures at Moore

College in Sydney, Bill Dumbrell approached both testaments with a wide angle lens to

form the core of the conclusion to biblical history in the perspective of John’s apocalypse

346 Ibid, 239. 347 A. Dwight Culler, Imaginative Reason: The Poetry of Matthew Arnold (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966), 40. 348 Park Honan, Matthew Arnold: A Life (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1981), 235. 150

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

(Revelation 21-22).349 He organizes it around five themes: the new Jerusalem, new

temple, new covenant, new Israel, and new creation. The order of these themes is logical

in Dumbrell’s thinking: each is an aspect of “the Bible’s wider concept of government,

the Kingdom of God … the new Jerusalem is the symbol of government and those

governed; the new temple is the seat of government; the new covenant is the instrument

of government, the new Israel reveals those governed and their role: the new creation is

the final comprehensive presentation of both the governed and the Governor.”350

Dumbrell finally opts for the new creation as the most comprehensive idea and

summary of the other four themes. The entire scheme of the Bible is structured around

the movement “from creation to new creation by means of divine redemptive

interventions,” climaxing in Christ’s death, resurrection, and second coming which will

conclude all things.351 Modelling God’s future in the current situation is the purpose of

the church. The new Israel is then the people of God, one worshiping community, not

necessarily an ethnic one.352 It is a community engaged, visible, and contributing to all

facets of life in a tangible way, giving hope where it lacks, giving courage to replace fear,

giving radical inclusion to replace exclusion, bringing inside the fold those that are on

349 William J. Dumbrell, The End of the Beginning: Revelation 21-22 and the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 1985). 350 Ibid. 351 Ibid, 166, 196. 352 Ibid, 84-84, 87, 143-144, 150, 155. 151

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

the edges of the network. Christ is the one, joining, common force made known to find

true life.

5.2.4 Promoting a positive and mindful approach to AI

During the last century we saw the start of discussion relating to the theology of

technology. The writings of authors such as Nicholas Berdyaev, Jacques Ellul, Lynn

White, Paul Tillich, Carl Mitcham and Jim Grote serve as examples in this regard.353

More recent works by such as Albert Borgmann, Noreen Herzfeld, Brad Kallenberg,

David F. Noble, and Brent Waters are now beginning to address the silence of the

church in addressing technology issues and how they reframe Christian life.354 Humans

are not called by God to be either co-creators or exploiters, but have been elected by God

to assert a limited dominion over a finite and temporal creation in the name of the One

whose image and likeness they bear.355 The derivative ethic (from limited dominion)

353 Berdyaev (Berdiaev), “Spiritual Condition of the Contemporary World,” Berdyaev Online Bibliotek Library, 1932, http://www.berdyaev.com/berdiaev/berd_lib/1932_377.html; Jacques Ellul and John Wilkinson, The Technological Society (New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books, 1964); Lynn Townsend White, Medieval Religion and Technology: Collected Essays (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978); Paul. Tillich, The Spiritual Situation in Our Technical Society, ed. J. M. Thomas (Macon, Ga.: Mercer, 1988); Carl Mitcham and Jim Grote, Theology and Technology: Essays in Christian Analysis and Exegesis (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1984). 354 Borgmann, Power Failure: Christianity in the Culture of Technology; Noreen L. Herzfeld, Technology and Religion: Remaining Human in a Co-Created World (West Conshohocken, Pa.: Templeton Press, 2009); Brad J. Kallenberg and Nancey C. Murphy, God and Gadgets: Following Jesus in a Technological World (Eugene, Or.: Cascade Books, 2011); David F. Noble, The Religion of Technology: The Divinity of Man and the Spirit of Invention (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997); Waters, From Human to Posthuman: Christian Theology and Technology in a Postmodern World; Green, Palmer, and Corcoran, In Search of the Soul: Four Views of the Mind- Body Problem, 2. 355 Green, Palmer, and Corcoran, In Search of the Soul: Four Views of the Mind-Body Problem, 13. 152

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

thereby provides an intermediate position between the extremes of a naïve romantic

idealism on the one hand, and a reductionistic expediency on the other. In this respect,

limited dominion elaborates the natural ethic examined in the previous chapter by

seeking to identify a teleological relation between the providential unfolding of created

order and creation’s eschatological destiny as revealed in the death, resurrection and

exaltation of Jesus Christ.356

Albert Borgmann presents the notion of “device paradigm,” the concept of the

artificial replacement of the real or original. The device paradigm is a social mechanism

that conceals deep social structures even while it reveals a surface appearance. It

prescribes a technological way of life in which a “traditional contextual” substance such

as cream becomes an “opaque” commodity such as Cool Whip (artificial cream) through

a “concealed and intricate machinery of techniques and therapies.357 Apple Computer on

the other hand employs a whole team of people that work towards the obsolescence of

their devices so people will be forced to upgrade their devices,358 devices built in

factories in China where stressed workers jump out of the windows to commit suicide.359

356 Waters, From Human to Posthuman: Christian Theology and Technology in a Postmodern World, 136. 357 Borgmann, Power Failure: Christianity in the Culture of Technology, 17. 358 Adam Sarhan, “Planned Obsolescence: Apple Is Not the Only Culprit,” Forbes, accessed April 5, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamsarhan/2017/12/22/planned-obsolescence-apple-is-not-the-only-culprit/. 359 Jamie Fullerton, “Suicide at Chinese IPhone Factory Reignites Concern over Working Conditions,” The Telegraph, January 7, 2018, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/07/suicide-chinese-iphone-factory- reignites-concern-working-conditions/. 153

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

In Heidegger’s frame this clearly reveals that money for the company and shareholders

and unlimited growth trump value for human life and enjoyment. Sam Wells aptly

points out Dennis Snower’s work as part of the G20 Summit.360 “The world’s produced

goods and services are growing at the expense of its social and environmental capital,”

Snower’s aforementioned “dangerous decoupling.” He summarizes the situation like

this:

“Economically, the problem manifests itself through rising inequalities. Socially, it comes as a crisis of identities, arising from two by-products of globalization: growing interactions with strangers (due to personal mobility and international competition for jobs) and the weakening of local social ties (due to the rise of global production, distribution and marketing networks and the fall in location- specific job security). Psychologically, the problem often takes the form of a perceived loss of life meaning. The resulting dissatisfaction of the relatively vulnerable social groups has generated rising nationalism, populism and cross- cultural intolerance in many countries, along with a falling appreciation of the benefits of democracy. This problem threatens to stoke social conflicts and undermine the legitimacy of the political and economic systems responsible for the rising worldwide material wealth, while simultaneously depleting more of our natural and social capital.”361

Snower maintains that human identity lies in cooperation and innovation. He

argues that our social connections rest on our capacity for “mentalizing (reading the

thoughts of others), empathy (feeling the feelings of others), compassion (the desire to

360 Samuel Wells, A Future That’s Bigger than the Past: Catalysing Kingdom Communities (London, UK: Canterbury Press Norwich, 2019). 361 Dennis J. Snower, “The Dangerous Decoupling,” 2017, https://www.g20-insights.org/wp- content/uploads/2017/05/The-Dangerous-Decoupling.pdf, 2. 154

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

relieve the suffering of others), [and] loving-kindness (the desire to promote the

happiness of others).”362 These capacities are about relationship and purpose.

The irony of this situation should be noted. Since the industrial revolution,

people have been required to become machine-like in order to interact effectively with

the machines they invented. When the machines did simple, repetitive tasks, the

workers operating them needed to do simple, repetitive tasks as well. As machines

became more versatile and programmable, workers were required to become more

versatile, but only within the bounds of the existing programs. However, in the third

digital revolution, people will be required to exercise the ability for sociality and

discovery. Humans, in short, will have the opportunity to become more human again.363

Michael Ignatieff emphasizes tolerance, forgiveness, reconciliation, and resilience

as building blocks to global coexistence. He maintains a widespread conviction that

“displaying the virtues, as best you can, is the point and purpose of a human life.”364

Snower’s appeal brings urgency to this proposition. Who is better equipped to help

bring humanity back to its true identity than the church? Borgmann describes how two

cultures of contingency, the culture of the word and the culture of the table, have been

replaced by cultures of commodity and control via device paradigm. The Church needs

362 Ibid, 7. 363 Ibid. 364 Michael Ignatieff, The Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2017). 155

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

to develop and elaborate on how the beauty of Eucharist can be made relevant in such a

cultural shift. This point about being human is more relevant to employees in

technology giants. Blind’s survey of employees in companies like Microsoft, Uber,

Google, Facebook and Apple found that 57.55% suffered from imposters syndrome.365

5.2.5 Nimbleness

There is much talk about technological trends and the future of progress. Those

trying to predict the future of technology are bound to look like the village fool, given

the fast pace of research and development in all aspects of life, which AI impacts. This

offers the Christian community an opportunity to remain nimble in the face of

developments that will come its way. The church should harness the scientific

community within its ranks. The Christian community has a role to play in formulating

and answering important questions, such as: what safety engineering policies and

standards should be adopted in light of human worth? Who gets to decide on these

policies? In whose image are Cyborgs built? How is the lifecycle of a cyborg to be

considered, if she is the new creation? What is the impact of “winner takes all,” in the

big technology world of AI? How will AI affect human esteem and life when it takes

over the majority of jobs done by humans? If work gives purpose—as it was introduced

365 Bonnie Burton, “Facebook, Amazon Employees Likely to Suffer from Impostor Syndrome,” CNET, September 6, 2018, https://www.cnet.com/news/tech-employees-likely-to-suffer-from-impostor-syndrome/.

156

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

before the fall in the Genesis narrative—what will replace it to give similar meaning and

purpose to human life? Will the church set up separate funds for universal basic

income? What practical programs in Sunday schools, conferences, and seminaries need

to be introduced to train Christians in AI, and then in return to impact both the tech

industry and government policy makers? When will the church be the go-to

organization for advice and consultation on the implementation of AI? What interfaith

partnerships does the church need to make with others outside its own fold to build a

coalition to reestablish civilization? That is of course, if an AI apocalypse becomes a

reality, as predicted in fiction. How can the church promote technology experts inside its

community to work with leading academic researchers such as Roman Yampolskiy,

Russell Stewart, the Carnegie Mellon University’s ethics forum, to name a few? What if

the current field of narrow AI expands and is successful in general AI? Will Christians

be equipped to handle the massive shift this will cause in how everything is done in the

world? Sex robot brothels are already on the rise; how will this affect human

relationships and the future of our planet?366 In Japan, we are already seeing a staggering

number of people not engaging in sexual activity. Japan already has a birth rate crisis

and an aging and dwindling population. Last year, the country recorded the lowest birth

366 John F. Banzhaf, “Sex Robot Brothels Proliferating, Because They Are Legal,” ValueWalk, November 18, 2019, http://www.valuewalk.com/2019/11/sex-robot-brothels-legal/. 157

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

rate in its history since it started recording births in 1899.367 Nevertheless, whose ethics,

value system, and morality gets to be imbedded in AI? What uses of AI will the church

exploit in the future? How will Christians keep seeking to “love him and our neighbors

above all things” (Matthew 22:37-39) in the development of AI? How does this impact

the church’s missional challenge in valuing, defending, and believing in its evangelistic

outreach? What, if any, program should the church consider for AI research that might

be underway in other countries that simply don’t have a Christian foundation? What are

the limits and boundaries of AI-powered weapons? Should the church initiate a

movement towards establishing a bill of rights for AI and humans? What is open for

disagreement and what needs to be agreed upon at a cultural level? How will AI impact

education?

The past decade has seen unprecedented economic growth, technological

progress and ease of communication, and yet Yuval Levi argues about the crisis facing

countless Americans: “The crisis is evident not only in our political and cultural

interactions but in the personal lives of countless Americans, for whom hopelessness or

367 Laurel Wamsley, “Japan’s Births Decline To Lowest Number On Record,” NPR.org, accessed February 15, 2020, https://www.npr.org/2019/12/24/791132555/japans-births-decline-to-lowest-number-on-record.

158

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

alienation descends into outright despair. Although in some ways it is easier than ever

to be in touch with others, ours is an era of unusual isolation and solitude.”368

When trust in institutions, leaders, politicians and business is at all time low, the

church finds itself well positioned to get involved, to engage, and to present the virtues

that have molded the characters of people throughout the past two millennia.

368 Yuval Levin, A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream, (New York: Basic Books, 2020). 159

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Appendix A369

It is important examine developments in computer science through the last

century. This is noteworthy because of 1950s fiction which seems to have turned into

reality in the way its authors imagined the role of computers and Artificial Intelligence

(AI) in human life.370

In 1946 IBM unveiled its first large-scale digital calculating machine, known

today as the IBM SSEC (Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator). Ten years later, in

1956, IBM then developed its first self-learning program, along with the first magnetic

369 "IBM History Timeline," Office Timeline, OfficeTimeline.com, 2017, accessed 3 February, 2020, https://www.officetimeline.com/blog/IBM-history-timeline. 370 Russell and Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach). 160

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

hard disk drive. Both these developments changed our world and computing forever.

Afterwards, effort and resources were poured into the development of computer

languages, memory production, and storage, with processors becoming smaller and

faster, making them more user-friendly. The diagram above represents a timeline which

chronicles these developments at the IBM.

161

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Appendix B371

AI Definition Stack Autonomy AI technologies at this level focus on creating systems that make their

own decisions without human intervention. These systems solve

problems when humans can't. For example, robots can search through

rubble for disaster survivors, or sensors in self-driving cars can

respond more quickly to impending accidents than human drivers.

Human AI When we create artificial intelligence in this part of the stack, we're Interaction augmenting what humans can do. These technologies make our lives

easier. One good example of work in this area is robotic arms attached

to motorized wheelchairs that people with spinal cord injuries can

direct with their gaze. Another exciting example is research that

allows a computer system to interview a patient remotely to

determine if they're depressed and need human intervention.

Planning and Systems in this part of the stack rely on optimization, safety, Acting the knowledge network, and strategic reasoning to make the best

possible decision available and learn from the information researchers

give them. Though slightly less sophisticated than systems employing

371 Intelligence, “About.” 162

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

the blocks at the very top of the stack, planning and acting

technologies still rely on advanced systems and algorithms to

positively impact the world. One great example of technology that

falls into this category is the national kidney exchange —a

sophisticated algorithm that matches potential kidney donors with

people who need transplants.

Decision This layer includes technologies that help humans make decisions. Support Where should 500 Lyft drivers be deployed, based on information we

know about events and demand? How should emergency services be

distributed after a disaster? Exciting examples of research in this area

include work to identify instances of human trafficking, help locate

victims, and collect and synthesize enough information that trends

and patterns can be discovered and used to combat the problem.

Modelling AI systems at the top of the stack rely on computer modeling to

understand information. Models use computers to construct and

manipulate abstract representations of situations and natural

phenomena in the world. For example, new research has allowed

scientists to analyze photos of people to track their facial features and

recognize their emotional states.

163

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Machine Machine learning focuses on creating programs that learn from Learning experience. It advances computing through exposure to new

scenarios, testing and adaptation, while using pattern- and trend-

detection to help the computer make better decisions in similar,

subsequent situations. A relevant example of work in machine

learning is using speech recognition technologies to identify the age,

sex, and location of the hoax callers that plague the U.S. Coast Guard.

Massive Data As the modern world generates massive amounts of data, large Management organizations, government agencies, think tanks, and consulting firms

all seek the brightest minds who can interpret and analyze that data in

order to improve public programs and policies in areas such as

education, transportation, the environment, criminal justice, economic

development, national security and defense, and health care.

Devices The device layer is all of the sensors and components needed for

machines to perceive the world around them. Traffic lights, for

example, can observe traffic levels and negotiate with each other to

improve traffic flow. Iris-detection systems can read and identify a

human eye from 40 feet away.

164

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Computing All artificial intelligence is built on the computer systems that came

before it. This includes the systems, networks, programming

languages, operating systems, and interactions between devices that

make computing possible.

165

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Appendix C372

372 Nature Magazine, “Table 1 Ethics Guidelines for AI by Country of Issuer (Australia–UK),” accessed February 19, 2020, https://www.nature.com/articles/s42256-019-0088-2/tables/1. 166

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Appendix D373

373 Nature Magazine, “Table 2 Ethics Guidelines for AI by Country of Issuer (USA, International, EU and N/A),” accessed February 19, 2020, https://www.nature.com/articles/s42256-019-0088-2/tables/2. 167

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Bibliography

ABC News. “AK-47 Rifle Inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov Wrote Letter Saying He Regretted Creating Weapon,” January 13, 2014. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-13/ak-47-rifle-inventor-mikhail- kalashnikov-regrets-creating-weapon/5198396.

Abell, Eric. “Stopping Cues,” 2017. https://medium.com/@eric_abell/stopping-queues- 1fc75588d32e.

Ackerman, Spencer. “Facebook Now Says Russian Disinfo Reached 150 Million Americans,” 2017. https://www.thedailybeast.com/facebook-now-says-russian- disinfo-reached-150-million-americans.

Aldridge, Irene. “Big Data vs. Machine Learning vs. Artificial Intelligence (AI),” 2019. http://irenealdridge.com/ia/2019/03/27/big-data-vs-machine-learning-vs-artificial- intelligence-ai/.

—. “ETFs, High-Frequency Trading, and Flash Crashes.” The Journal of Portfolio Management 43, no. 1 (October 31, 2016): 17. https://doi.org/10.3905/jpm.2016.43.1.017.

Allen, Mike. “Sean Parker Unloads on Facebook: ‘God Only Knows What It’s Doing to Our Children’s Brains,’” 2017. https://www.axios.com/sean-parker-unloads-on- facebook-god-only-knows-what-its-doing-to-our-childrens-brains-1513306792- f855e7b4-4e99-4d60-8d51-2775559c2671.html.

“An Intellectual Entente.” Harvard Magazine, 2009. https://harvardmagazine.com/breaking-news/james-watson-edward-o-wilson- intellectual-entente.

Andreessen, Marc. “Why Software is Eating the World,” 2011. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111903480904576512250915629460.

Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologica. Complete English ed. Westminster, Md: Christian Classics, 1981.

168

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Arakawa, Hiroyuki, D. Caroline Blanchard, Keiko Arakawa, Christopher Dunlap, and Robert J. Blanchard. “Scent Marking Behavior as an Odorant Communication in Mice.” Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 2008.

Arnold, Matthew. The Poems of Matthew Arnold. Edited by Kenneth Allot. London: Longmans, 1965.

Asimov, Isaac. I, Robot. New York: Doubleday, 1950.

—. The Best of Isaac Asimov. New York: Ballantine Books, 1982.

Association for the Advancement of Artificial, Intelligence, AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media International, and ICWSM. Proceedings of the Fifth International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media 17-21 July 2011, Barcelona, Spain. Menlo Park, Calif: AAAI Press, 2011. https://www.AAAI.org/ocs/index.php/ICWSM/ICWSM11/paper/viewFile/2847/3 275.

Associated Press. “Chinese Doctor Who Made Gene-Edited Babies Acted on His Own.” Stat News, January 21, 2019. https://www.statnews.com/2019/01/21/china-doctor- gene-edited-babies/.

Baker Publishing Group. “Power Failure.” Accessed April 2, 2020. http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/power-failure/227810.

Banzhaf, John F. “Sex Robot Brothels Proliferating, Because They Are Legal.” ValueWalk, November 18, 2019. http://www.valuewalk.com/2019/11/sex-robot-brothels- legal/.

Barash, Matthew Hindman; Vlad. “Disinformation, Fake News and Influence Campaigns on Twitter.” John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, 2018. https://kf- site- production.s3.amazonaws.com/media_elements/files/000/000/238/original/KF- DisinformationReport-final2.pdf.

Barth, Karl, Geoffrey William Bromiley, and Thomas F. Torrance. Church Dogmatics. Volume III, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1958.

169

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Basulto, Dominic. “How We’re Playing God Now,” 2012. https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/post/how-were-playing- god-now/2012/06/29/gJQAuxbeBW_blog.html.

Battan, Carrie. “The ‘Getting Real’ Moment on Instagram.” The New Yorker.” Accessed February 17, 2020. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-rise-of- the-getting-real-post-on-instagram.

Beautiful 3-D “Brain Scans Show Every Synapse.” National Geographic. Accessed February 17, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvXuq9jRWKE.

Bell, David, and Barbara Kennedy. The Cybercultures Reader. London: Routledge, 2000.

Bellis, Mary. “Alfred Nobel and the History of Dynamite.” ThoughtCo, January 13, 2020. https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-dynamite-1991564.

Berdyaev (Berdiaev). “Spiritual Condition of the Contemporary World.” Berdyaev Online Bibliotek Library, 1932. http://www.berdyaev.com/berdiaev/berd_lib/1932_377.html.

Berliner, Hans J. “Backgammon Computer Program Beats World Champion.” Artificial Intelligence 14, no. 2 (1980): 205–20.

Berman, John. “Futurist Ray Kurzweil Says He Can Bring His Dead Father Back to Life Through a Computer Avatar.” ABC News, August 9, 2011. https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/futurist-ray-kurzweil-bring-dead-father- back-life/story?id=14267712.

Berry, Jeffrey M., and Sarah Sobieraj. “The Outrage Industry: Political Opinion Media and the New Incivility,” 2016.

Berry, Wendell. The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture. Magnolia, MA.: Peter Smith, 1997.

Bessi, A., and E. Ferrara. “Social Bots Distort the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election Online Discussion.” First Monday 21, no. 11 (2016).

170

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Bigelow, Henry Jacob. Dr. Harlow’s Case of Recovery from the Passage of an Iron Bar through the Head. Philadelphia: T.K. & P.G. Collins, Printers, 1850.

Bilton, Nick. “Steve Jobs Was a Low-Tech Parent,” 2014. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/fashion/steve-jobs-apple-was-a-low-tech- parent.html.

Borgmann, Albert. Power Failure: Christianity in the Culture of Technology. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2003.

Bot, Alexandra, and Jose Benites. “The Importance of Soil Organic Matter: Key to Drought-Resistant Soil and Sustained Food Production.” Rome: FAO Land and Plant Nutrition Management Service, 2005. http://www.fao.org/3/a0100e/a0100e05.htm.

Bouma-Prediger, Steven. For the Beauty of the Earth: A Christian Vision for Creation Care. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2003.

Bray, Gerald. “The Significance of God’s Image in Man.” Tyndale Bulletin 42, no. 2 (1991): 195–225.

Breland, Ali. “Thousands Attended Protest Organized by Russians on Facebook,” 2017. https://thehill.com/policy/technology/358025-thousands-attended-protest- organized-by-russians-on-facebook.

Brooker, Katrina. “‘I Was Devastated’: Tim Berners-Lee, the Man Who Created the World Wide Web, Has Some Regrets,” 2018. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/07/the-man-who-created-the-worldwide-web-has-some-regrets.

Brooks, Rodney. “The Origins of ‘Artificial Intelligence’,” 2018. https://rodneybrooks.com/forai-the-origins-of-artificial-intelligence/.

Brooks, Rodney A. Robot: the future of flesh and machines. London: Allen Lane: Penguin Press, 2002.

Brown, Colin. “Karl Barth’s Doctrine of the Creation.” Churchman 76, no. 2 (1962): 99– 105.

171

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Brown, Michael. “YouTube Just Demonetized Hundreds of Our Videos,” 2017. https://www.christianpost.com/news/youtube-just-demonetized-hundreds-of- our-videos-196268/.

Burton, Bonnie. “Facebook, Amazon Employees Likely to Suffer from Impostor Syndrome.” CNET, September 6, 2018. https://www.cnet.com/news/tech- employees-likely-to-suffer-from-impostor-syndrome/.

Byford, Sam. “Google’s AplhaGo AI Beats Lee Se-Dol Again to Win Go Series 4-1,” 2016. https://www.theverge.com/2016/3/15/11213518/alphago-deepmind-go-match-5- result.

Cahill, Thomas. How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe. New York: Doubleday, 1996.

California Legislature. Bill Text - AB-5 Worker status: employees and independent contractors. Accessed February 15, 2020. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB 5.

Capek, Karel, and David Short. Rossum’s Universal Robots. London: Hesperus, 2011.

Cappell, D. F. “Recent Advances In Our Knowledge Of The Rh Factor.” The British Medical Journal 2, no. 4571 (1948): 323–26.

China Global Television Network. Live: Jack Ma and Elon Musk’s AI Debate in Shanghai. Accessed February 18, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ5w11Cm3gM.

Chiel, Ethan. “‘Black Teenagers’ vs. ‘White Teenagers’: Why Google’s Algorithm Displays Racist Results.” G/O Media Inc., 2016. https://splinternews.com/black- teenagers-vs-white-teenagers-why-googles-algori-1793857436.

Church of England. The Book of Common Prayer. Ebury Press, 1992.

Clark, Mary T. Augustine. Translated by Brian Davies. London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1994.

172

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Cobb, Jennifer J. CyberGrace: The Search for God in the Digital World. New York: Crown, 1998.

Conover, Michael D., Bruno Goncalves, Jacob Ratkiewicz, Alessandro Flammini, and Filippo Menczer. “Predicting the Political Alignment of Twitter Users.” In IEEE Third Int’l Conference on Privacy, Security Risk and Trust IEEE Third Int’l Conference on Social Computing, 192–99, 2011. http://cnets.indiana.edu/wp- content/uploads/conover_prediction_socialcom_pdfexpress_ok_version.pdf.

Constitution Society. “The Old Deluder Act (1647).” Accessed February 15, 2020. https://www.constitution.org/primarysources/deluder.html.

Craigie, Peter C., and Gerald L. Keown. Jeremiah 1-25. Vol. 26. Word Biblical Commentary. Dallas, Texas: Word Books, 1998.

Crevier, Daniel. AI: The Tumultuous History of the Search for Artificial Intelligence. New York: Basic Books, 1993.

Culler, A. Dwight. Imaginative Reason: The Poetry of Matthew Arnold. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966.

Cummings, Dominic. “On the Referendum #20: The Campaign, Physics and Data Science – Vote Leave’s ‘Voter Intention Collection System’ (VICS) Now Available for All,” 2016. https://dominiccummings.com/2016/10/29/on-the-referendum-20- the-campaign-physics-and-data-science-vote-leaves-voter-intention-collection- system-VICS-now-available-for-all/.

Cutlack, Gary. “FaceApp Blames AI for Whitening up Black People,” 2017. http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2017/04/faceapp-blames-ai-for-whitening-up-black- people.

Dawkins, Richard. Growing Up in the Universe. W W Norton & Co Inc, 2006.

Deahl, Dani. “Google Employees Demand the Company Pull out of Pentagon AI Project.” The Verge, April 4, 2018. https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/4/17199818/google-pentagon-project-maven- pull-out-letter-ceo-sundar-pichai.

173

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

“Dealing with Devices: The Parent-Teen Dynamic,” 2016. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/technology-addiction-concern- controversy-and-finding-balance-infographic.

Del Rey, Lester. The Runaway Robot. New York: Scholastic Book Services, 1968.

Descartes, René, and Donald A. Cress. Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1998.

Devore, Edna. “Closing in on Extrasolar Earths.” Space. Accessed February 15, 2020. https://www.space.com/5531-closing-extrasolar-earths.html.

Dictionary.com. “What Does Red Pill Mean?”, https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/red- pill/.

Dockterman, Eliana. “Robot Kills Man at Volkswagen Plant.” Time USA, 2015. http://time.com/3944181/robot-kills-man-volkswagen-plant/.

Donovan, Alan. “Guy D. Smith, 73, USDA Soil Expert, Dies,” 1981. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1981/08/29/guy-d-smith-73- usda-soil-expert-dies/962ae425-d6cb-40c0-af27-c0fcb1700b2d/.

Drake, Tim. “Cardinal George: The Myth and Reality of ‘I’ll Die in My Bed.’” National Catholic Register. Accessed February 15, 2020. https://www.ncregister.com/blog/tim-drake/the-myth-and-the-reality-of-ill-die- in-my-bed.

Dreifus, Claudia. “Asking ‘Why Do Species Go Extinct?’,” 2008. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/science/04conv.html.

Dumbrell, William J. The End of the Beginning: Revelation 21-22 and the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 1985.

Dzieza, Josh. “Robots Aren’t Taking Our Jobs — They’re Becoming Our Bosses.” The Verge, February 27, 2020. https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/27/21155254/automation-robots- unemployment-jobs-vs-human-google-amazon.

174

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Ellul, Jacques, and John Wilkinson. The Technological Society. New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books, 1964.

Elyasaf, Achiya, Ami Hauptman, and Moshe Sipper. “GA-FreeCell: Evolving Solvers for the Game of FreeCell.” Proceedings of the 13th Annual Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation. Dublin, Ireland: ACM, 2011.

Engber, Daniel. “The Neurologist Who Hacked His Brain —and Almost Lost His Mind,” 2016. https://www.wired.com/2016/01/phil-kennedy-mind-control-computer/.

Epstein, Robert, and Ronald E. Robertson. “The Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME) and Its Possible Impact on the Outcomes of Elections.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2015.

Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1983.

Evans, Robert. “From Memes to Infowars: How 75 Fascist Activists Were ‘Red-Pilled,’” 2018. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2018/10/11/memes-infowars- 75-fascist-activists-red-pilled/.

Fadell, Tony, and Anderson Cooper. Take Control of Your Digital Life. Youtube.com: Wisdome 2.0, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzBgTXmMnwQ.

Felton, James. “Store Hires Robot to Help Out Customers, Robot Gets Fired for Scaring Customers Away,” 2018. http://www.iflscience.com/technology/store-hires- robot-to-help-out-customers-robot-gets-fired-for-scaring-customers-away.

Fergusson, David. “Karl Barth’s Doctrine of Creation: Church-Bells beyond the Stars.” International Journal of Systematic Theology 18, no. 4 (October 1, 2016): 414–31. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijst.12144.

Finlay, Graeme. “Human Evolution: How Random Process Fulfils Divine Purpose.” Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, 2008.

Fowler, Thomas. Bacon. London: Low, 1887.

175

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Fridman, Lex. Eric Schmidt: Google, MIT Artificial Intelligence (AI) Podcast. Youtube.com: Lex Fridman, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIC9FQpxVwQ.

Froehlich, Karlfried. “‘Take up and Read’: Basics of Augustine’s Biblical Interpretation.” Interpretation 58, no. 1 (2004): 5–16.

Fukuyama, Francis. Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution. London: Profile, 2002.

Fullerton, Jamie. “Suicide at Chinese IPhone Factory Reignites Concern over Working Conditions.” The Telegraph, January 7, 2018. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/07/suicide-chinese-iphone-factory- reignites-concern-working-conditions/.

Gabielkov, Maksym, Arthi Ramachandran, Augustin Chaintreau, and Arnaud Legout. “Social Clicks: What and Who Gets Read on Twitter?” In ACM SIGMETRICS / IFIP Performance 2016. Antibes Juan-les-Pins, France, 2016. https://hal.inria.fr/hal- 01281190.

Garner, Stephen Robert, and Martin Sutherland; Nicola Hoggard-Creegan. “Transhumanism and the Imago Dei: Narratives of Apprehension and Hope.” University of Auckland, 2006. https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/2292/2251/02whole.?seque nce=2 %[19 August 2019.

Geisler, Norman L. Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1999.

Gerrold, David. When Harlie Was One. New York: Ballantine, 1975.

González, Justo L. A History of Christian Thought. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1970.

Good, Irving John. “Speculations Concerning the First Ultraintelligent Machine.” Advances in Computers 6 (1966): 31–88.

Gray, Chris Hables. The Cyborg Handbook. London: Routledge, 1995.

176

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Green, Joel B., Stuart L. Palmer, and Kelvin Corcoran. In Search of the Soul: Four Views of the Mind-Body Problem. Kindle., 2005.

Biography. “Gregor Mendel.” Accessed February 15, 2020. https://www.biography.com/scientist/gregor-mendel.

Green, Brian Patrick. “The Catholic Church and Technological Progress: Past, Present, and Future.” Religions 8, no. 6 (June 2017): 106.

Gregory, Andrew. “Robots 'to Take 50% of Our Jobs by 2050 and Outperform Humans at Almost Anything’,” 2016. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology- science/robots-to-take-50-jobs-7363442.

Grinvald, Ithamar. Rituals and Ritual Theory in Ancient Israel. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003.

Ham, Paul. “As Hiroshima Smouldered, Our Atom Bomb Scientists Suffered Remorse.” Newsweek, August 5, 2015. https://www.newsweek.com/hiroshima-smouldered- our-atom-bomb-scientists-suffered-remorse-360125.

Hansen, William F. Classical Mythology: A Guide to the Mythical World of the Greeks and Romans. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2005.

Hanson, Robin. “Shall We Vote on Values, But Bet on Beliefs? Shall We Vote on Values, But Bet on Beliefs?” Journal of Political Philosophy, 2013.

Hao, Karen. “The Messy, Secretive Reality behind OpenAI’s Bid to Save the World.” MIT Technology Review. Accessed February 19, 2020. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/615181/ai-openai-moonshot-elon-musk- sam-altman-greg-brockman-messy-secretive-reality/.

Hansen, Derek L., Ben Schneiderman, and Marc A. Smith. Analyzing Social Media Networks with NodeXL: Insights from a Connected World, 2019.

Harari, Yuval Noah. Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. New York, NY: Harper, 2017.

177

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Harlow, John M. “Recovery from the Passage of an Iron Bar through the Head.” History of Psychiatry 4, no. 14 (June 1, 1993): 274–81. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957154X9300401407.

Harris, John. “In Sri Lanka, Facebook’s Dominance Has Cost Lives,” 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/06/sri-lanka-facebook- lives-tech-giant-poor-countries.

Hart, David Bentley. The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013.

Hauerwas, Stanley, and Samuel Wells. The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics. Malden, MA; Oxford: Blackwell Pub., 2004.

Hay, Mark. “Why Are the Japanese Still Not Fucking?” Vice, January 22, 2015. https://www.vice.com/da/article/7b7y8x/why-arent-the-japanese-fucking-361.

Hayward, Rhodri. “Malcolm MacMillan, An Odd Kind of Fame: Stories of Phineas Gage.” The British Journal for the History of Science, 2002. Cambridge University Press.

Hefner, Philip. Technology and Human Becoming. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003.

Hefner, Philip, and Religion International Society for Science. The Human Factor: Evolution, Culture, and Religion. 2007.

Heidegger, Martin, John Macquarrie, and Edward Robinson. Being and Time. Oxford: Blackwell, 1962.

Heidegger, Martin, and William Lovitt. The Question Concerning Technology, and Other Essays. New York; London: Harper and Row, 1977.

Heinlein, Robert A. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. New York: Orb, 2005.

Hern, Alex. “‘Never Get High on Your Own Supply’ – Why Social Media Bosses Don’t Use Social Media,” 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/jan/23/never-get-high-on-your-own- supply-why-social-media-bosses-dont-use-social-media.

178

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

“Whatever Happened to the DeepMind AI Ethics Board Google Promised?” The Guardian, January 26, 2017, sec. Technology. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/26/google-deepmind-ai- ethics-board.

Herzfeld, Noreen L. Technology and Religion: Remaining Human in a Co-Created World. West Conshohocken, Pa.: Templeton Press, 2009.

High, Rob, and Jho Low. “Expert Cancer Care May Soon Be Everywhere, Thanks to Watson.” Vol. 2019. blogs.scientificamerican.com: Scientific America, 2014. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/expert-cancer-care-may- soon-be-everywhere-thanks-to-watson/.

Holzman R.S. “The Legacy of Atropos, the Fate Who Cut the Thread of Life.” Anesthesiology 89, no. 1 (1998): 241–49.

Honan, Park. Matthew Arnold: A Life. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1981.

Horkheimer, Max, and Theodor W. Adorno. Dialectic of Enlightenment. London; New York: Verso, 1997.

Hullman, Jessica. “The Purpose of Visualization Is Insight, Not Pictures: An Interview with Visualization Pioneer Ben….” Medium, March 14, 2019. https://medium.com/multiple-views-visualization-research-explained/the- purpose-of-visualization-is-insight-not-pictures-an-interview-with-visualization- pioneer-ben-beb15b2d8e9b.

Hutter, Marcus. Universal Artificial Intelligence: Sequential Decisions Based on Algorithmic Probability. Berlin: Springer, 2005.

Office Timeline. “IBM History Timeline,” 2017. https://www.officetimeline.com/blog/IBM-history-timeline.

Ignatieff, Michael. The Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2017.

179

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Ilisbaani. Christopher Hitchens Says “I’m Dying.” Accessed February 15, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc6UdA3TtWY.

Intelligence, Carnegie Mellon University Artificial. “About.” Carnegie Mellon University, 2019. https://ai.cs.cmu.edu/about.

Jackson, Julia A. Glossary of Geology. 4th ed. Alexandria, Virginia: American Geological Institute, 1997.

Jackson, Kenneth T. “Divided Highways by Tom Lewis.” Harvard Design Magazine, no. 7 (1999). http://www.harvarddesignmagazine.org/issues/7/divided-highways-by- tom-lewis.

Jacobs, Joseph. “Jewish Contributions to Civilization: An Estimate,” 1920. https://www.questia.com/read/1356351/jewish-contributions-to-civilization-an- estimate.

Jaklevic, Mary Chris. “MD Anderson Cancer Center’s IBM Watson Project Fails, and so Did the Journalism Related to It,” 2017. https://www.healthnewsreview.org/2017/02/md-anderson-cancer-centers-IBM- watson-project-fails-journalism-related/.

Jeeves, Malcolm A. Human Nature at the Millennium: Reflections on the Integration of Psychology and Christianity. Grand Rapids, Mich.; Leicester, UK: Baker Books; Apollos, 1997.

Jill Cirasella, Danny Kopec. “The History of Computer Games.” CUNY Academic Works, 2006. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_pubs/174.

Jobin, Anna, Marcello Ienca, and Effy Vayena. “The Global Landscape of AI Ethics Guidelines.” Nature Machine Intelligence 1, no. 9 (September 2019): 389–99. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42256-019-0088-2.

Johnson, Michele. “Mission overview.” Text. NASA, April 13, 2015. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/overview/index.html.

Jones, D. F. Colossus. New York: Berkeley Books, 1985.

180

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Jos F. Brosschot, Bart Verkuil. “Generalized Unsafety Theory of Stress: Unsafe Environments and Conditions, and the Default Stress Response.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 15, no. 3 (2018).

Joseph, George. “Inside the Video Surveillance Program IBM Built for Philippine Strongman Rodrigo Duterte.” The Intercept, March 20, 2019. https://theintercept.com/2019/03/20/rodrigo-duterte-IBM-surveillance/.

Kallenberg, Brad J., and Nancey C. Murphy. God and Gadgets: Following Jesus in a Technological World. Eugene, Or.: Cascade Books, 2011.

Kasparov, Garry. “The Day That I Sensed a New Kind of Intelligence.” TIME Magazine, 1996.

Kaufmann Kohler, Emil G. Hirsch. “Deism.” 1906. http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5049-deism.

Keim, G. A., N. M. Shazeer, M. L. Littman, S. Agarwal, C. M. Cheves, J. Fitzgerald, J. Grosland, F. Jiang, S. Pollard, and K. Weinmeister. “PROVERB: The Probabilistic Cruciverbalist.” Proceedings of the National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, no. 16 (1999): 710–17.

Keller, Timothy. The Reason for God Belief in an Age of Skepticism. New York: Riverhead Books, 2009.

Kilbride, Jeannine. “IBM Study: The Skills Gap Is Not a Myth, But Can Be Addressed with Real Solutions,” 2019. https://newsroom.IBM.com/2019-09-06-IBM-Study- The-Skills-Gap-is-Not-a-Myth-But-Can-Be-Addressed-with-Real-Solutions.

King, L. W. The Seven Tablets of Creation. London, 1902.

Kinnaman, David, and Aly. Hawkins. You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church-- and Rethinking Faith. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2011.

Kirilenko, Andrei A., Albert S. Kyle, Mehrdad Samadi, and Tugkan Tuzun. “The Flash Crash: The Impact of High Frequency Trading on an Electronic Market.” SSRN Electronic Journal, October 1, 2014. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1686004.

181

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Kissinger, Henry A. “How the Enlightenment Ends,” 2018. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/henry-kissinger-ai- could-mean-the-end-of-human-history/559124/.

Knuth, Donald E., and Luis Trabb Pardo. The Early Development of Programming Languages. Stanford, Calif: Computer Science Dep., School of Humanities and Sciences, Univ., 1976.

Kotkin, Joel. “Today’s Tech Oligarchs Are Worse Than the Robber Barons,” 2016. https://www.thedailybeast.com/todays-tech-oligarchs-are-worse-than-the- robber-barons.

Kramer, Samuel Noah. Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium B.C. New York, 1961.

Krogerus, Hannes Grassegger & Mikael. “The Data That Turned the World Upside Down,” 2017. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mg9vvn/how-our-likes- helped-trump-win.

Kuchler, Hannah. “How Facebook Grew Too Big to Handle,” 2019. https://www.ft.com/content/be723754-501c-11e9-9c76-bf4a0ce37d49.

Kurzweil, Ray. The Age of Spiritual Machines: How We Will Live, Work and Think in the New Age of Intelligent Machines. London: Phoenix, 1999.

“The Coming Merging of Mind and Machine.” Scientific American Presents, 1999.

The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. New York: Viking, 2005.

Lambert, W. G., A. R. Millard, and Miguel Civil. Atra-Ùhasåis: The Babylonian Story of the Flood. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1999.

Lampert, Khen. Traditions of Compassion: From Religious Duty to Social Activism. New York; Gordonsville: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.

Lasker, G. E., and G. J. Van Schalkwyk. Cognitive, Emotive and Ethical Aspects of Decision Making in Humans and in Artificial Intelligence. Windsor, Ont.: International Institute for Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics, 2007.

182

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Leinster, Murray. Logic Named Joe. Simon & Schuster Canada, 2005.

Levin, Sam, and Nicky Woolf. “Tesla Driver Killed While Using Autopilot Was Watching Harry Potter, Witness Says,” 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/01/tesla-driver-killed- autopilot-self-driving-car-harry-potter.

Levin, Yuval. A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream. New York: Basic Books, 2020.

Lewis, Tom. Divided Highways: Building the Interstate Highways, Transforming American Life. New York: Viking, 1997.

Liao, Shannon. “Google Employees Aren’t Convinced That Dragonfly Is Dead.” The Verge, March 4. 2019. https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/4/18250285/google- dragonfly-censored-search-engine-code-dead-employees-doubt.

Lowry, Stella, and Gordon MacPherson. “A Blot on the Profession.” British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Edition), 1988.

Luger, George F., and William A. Stubblefield. Artificial Intelligence: Structures and Strategies for Complex Problem Solving. 5th ed. Redwood City, CA: Benjamin Cummings, 2004.

Luther, Martin, and Jaroslav J. Pelikan. Lectures on Genesis: Chapters 1-5. Saint Louis: Concordia, 1958.

Lyons, Jønathan. “Abolition Is Imperative in Kurzweil’s Sixth Epoch Scenario,” 2013. https://ieet.org/index.php/IEET2/more/lyons20130525.

MacArthur, John. The Battle for the Beginning. Thomas Nelson Incorporated, 2005.

MacLeod, Ken. The Cassini Division. London: Orbit, 2004.

—. The Star Fraction. London: Orbit, 2004.

183

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

MacMillan, Malcolm. An Odd Kind of Fame: Stories of Phineas Gage. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2000.

Mallery, John C. “Thinking About Foreign Policy: Finding an Appropriate Role for Artificially Intelligent Computers.” In The 1988 Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association. St. Louis, MO, 1988.

Marcus, Ruth. “Google’s Eric Schmidt and the Curse of Constant Connection,” 2012. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/googles-eric-schmidt-and-the-curse- of-constant-connection/2012/05/22/gIQACNq8iU_story.html.

Mark, Joshua J. “Enuma Elish - The Babylonian Epic of Creation - Full Text,” 2018. https://www.ancient.eu/article/225/enuma-elish---the-babylonian-epic-of- creation---fu/.

Markoff, John. “Computer Wins On ‘Jeopardy!’: Trivial, It’s Not.” New York Times, 2011.

Marsden, George M. The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Marzullo, Timothy C. “The Missing Manuscript of Dr. Jose Delgado’s Radio Controlled Bulls.” Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education (JUNE): A Publication of the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN) 15, no. 2 (2017): R29–35.

McCarthy, John. “What Is Artificial Intelligence?”, 2007. http://www- formal.stanford.edu/jmc/whatisai/whatisai.html.

McKibben, Bill. Enough Staying Human in an Engineered Age. New York: Times Books, 2003.

McNamara, Andrew, Justin Smith, and Emerson Murphy-Hill. “Does ACM’s Code of Ethics Change Ethical Decision Making in Software Development?” Proceedings of the 2018 26th ACM Joint Meeting on European Software Engineering Conference and Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering. Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA: Association for Computing Machinery, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1145/3236024.3264833.

184

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Michel, Casey. “Organizers behind Armed White Supremacist Protest in Houston Revealed as Russian,” 2017. https://thinkprogress.org/armed-white-supremacist- protest-organized-by-russians-d730f83ca275/.

Microsoft News Center, and Satya Nadella. “Satya Nadella Email to Employees: Embracing Our Future: Intelligent Cloud and Intelligent Edge.” Stories, March 29, 2018. https://news.microsoft.com/2018/03/29/satya-nadella-email-to-employees- embracing-our-future-intelligent-cloud-and-intelligent-edge/.

Mind Matters. “Why Are Robots Part of Religion in Japan?” March 11, 2019. https://mindmatters.ai/2019/03/why-are-robots-part-of-religion-in-japan/.

Mitcham, Carl, and Jim Grote. Theology and Technology: Essays in Christian Analysis and Exegesis. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1984.

Moltmann, Jurgen, and Margaret Kohl. God in Creation: An Ecological Doctrine of the Creation. London: SCM Press, 1985.

Mozur, Paul. “Inside China’s Dystopian Dreams: A.I., Shame and Lots of Cameras,” 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/08/business/china-surveillance- technology.html.

Mundell, E.J. “FDA Approves Brain Stimulation Device for Parkinson’s Disease.” WebMD. Accessed February 4, 2020. https://www.webmd.com/parkinsons- disease/news/20150612/fda-approves-brain-stimulation-device-for-parkinsons- disease.

Murgia, Madhumita, and Christian Shepherd. “Western AI Researchers Partnered with Chinese Surveillance Firms,” April 19, 2019. https://www.ft.com/content/41be9878-61d9-11e9-b285-3acd5d43599e.

Musk, Elon. “Elon Musk on Twitter: ‘Some Exciting News This Week: Tesla Version 7 Software with Autopilot Goes to Wide Release on Thursday!’” Twitter, October 10, 2015. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/653005894922276865.

185

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Nathan Bronson, Zach Amsden, and Jack Ferris Hui Ding. “TAO: Facebook’s Distributed Data Store for the Social Graph.” In 2013 USENIX Annual Technical Conference. San Jose, CA, 2013. https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/atc13/atc13-bronson.pdf.

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. “Deep Brain Stimulation for Movement Disorders Information Page,” https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/All-Disorders/Deep-Brain-Stimulation- Movement-Disorders-Information-Page.

Nature Magazine. “Table 1 Ethics Guidelines for AI by Country of Issuer (Australia– UK).” Accessed February 19, 2020. https://www.nature.com/articles/s42256-019- 0088-2/tables/1.

“Table 2 Ethics Guidelines for AI by Country of Issuer (USA, International, EU and N/A).” Accessed February 19, 2020. https://www.nature.com/articles/s42256-019- 0088-2/tables/2.

“Table 3 Ethical Principles Identified in Existing AI Guidelines.” Accessed February 19, 2020. https://www.nature.com/articles/s42256-019-0088-2/tables/3.

Naughton, John. “Why Tim Berners-Lee Is No Friend of Facebook.” The Guardian, August 28, 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/28/tim- berners-lee-open-web-mark-zuckerberg-facebook.

News. “How Phineas Gage Survived a Horrific Brain Injury to Become One of the Most Famous Names in Medical History.” National Post,” May 16, 2014. https://nationalpost.com/news/how-phineas-gage-survived-a-horrific-brain- injury-to-become-one-of-the-most-famous-names-in-medical-history.

Nirmal, Aditi. “Musk’s Neuralink Linking up Funds; Raises $39 Mn,” 2019. https://cofounderstown.com/2019/05/musk-owned-neuralink-raises-39-mn/.

Nirmal, Arvind P. “Toward a Christian Dalit Theology.” In Frontiers in Asian Christian Theology: Emerging Trends, 27–40, 1994. https://alumniproxy.lib.duke.edu/login?url==http://search.ebscohost.com/login.a spx?direct=true&db=reh&AN=ATLA0001203473&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

186

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Noble, David F. The Religion of Technology: The Divinity of Man and the Spirit of Invention. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.

“NSF Program on Fairness in Artificial Intelligence in Collaboration with Amazon (FAI) (Nsf19571).” NSF - National Science Foundation.” Accessed February 15, 2020. https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2019/nsf19571/nsf19571.htm?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25& WT.mc_ev=click.

O’Brien, Peter Thomas. Colossians, Philemon. Waco (Texas): Word Books, 1982.

O’Donnell, Karen. “Performing the Imago Dei: Human Enhancement, Artificial Intelligence and Optative Image-Bearing.” International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, 2018.

Offe, Claus. “Advanced Capitalism and the Welfare State.” Politics and Society, 1972.

Office of the Commissioner. “What We Do.” U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), November 3, 2011. https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/what-we-do.

Ogden, Daniel. Drakon: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman Worlds, 2013.

Ortberg, John. Who Is This Child? From Common Babe to King of Kings. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012.

Ortberg, John, and Christine Anderson. Soul Keeping Study Guide: Caring for the Most Important Part of You, 2014.

Osmundsen, John A. “‘Matador’ With a Radio Stops Wired Bull,” 1965. https://sites.google.com/site/mcrais1/delgado.

Ott, Kate M. Christian Ethics for a Digital Society. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2019.

“Oxford Advanced American Dictionary.” Accessed April 2, 2020. https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/american_english/techno logy.

“Oxford English Dictionary,” 2003. http://www.oed.com/.

187

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Pascal, Blaise, and A. J. Krailsheimer. Pensees. Revised. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1995. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/18269/18269-h/18269-h.htm.

“Past NIH Directors - The NIH Almanac - National Institutes of Health (NIH),” May 22, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130522144505/http://www.nih.gov/about/almanac /historical/directors.htm.

Patterson, Scott. The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It. New York: Crown Business, 2013.

Pelikan, Jaroslav. Jesus through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 1985.

Perry, Susan K. “Did You Know These 7 Surprises about Slots?”, 2012. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/creating-in-flow/201211/did-you- know-these-7-surprises-about-slots.

Pesce, Mark. The Playfull World: How Technology is Transforming our Imagination. New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 2000.

Peters, Ted. “Is our DNA Sacred?” Response 26, no. 7 (2004). https://spu.edu/depts/uc/response/summer2k4/dna.html.

Peters, Ted, Robert J. Russell, and Michael Welker. Resurrection: Theological and Scientific Assessments. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2002.

Peterson, Gregory R. Minding God: Theology and the Cognitive Sciences. Translated by Kevin J. Sharpe. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003.

Piller, Charles. “‘This Is Insane!’ Many Scientists Lament Trump’s Embrace of Risky Malaria Drugs for Coronavirus.” Science AAAS, March 26, 2020. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/insane-many-scientists-lament- trump-s-embrace-risky-malaria-drugs-coronavirus.

Pliny, John F. Healy, and Pliny. Natural History: A Selection. London; New York: Penguin Books, 2004.

188

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Polkinghorne, J. C. Science and Theology: An Introduction. London; Minneapolis, Minn.: SPCK; Fortress Press, 1998.

Poole, David, Alan Mackworth, and Randy Goebel. Computational Intelligence: A Logical Approach. New York; Oxford: Oxford Univ. Pr., 1998. Project WET Foundation. “Aqua Bodies.” Hydration Activities, 2010. https://www.projectwet.org/sites/default/files/content/documents/hydration- activities.pdf.

Pope Francis. “Laudato Si’.” vatican.va, May 24, 2015. http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa- francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html.

Quiñonero, Joaquin. “Facebook and the Technical University of Munich Announce New Independent TUM Institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence - About Facebook,” https://about.fb.com/news/2019/01/tum-institute-for-ethics-in-ai/.

Rae, Gavin. “The Philosophical Roots of Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Imagery: Descartes and Heidegger Through Latour, Derrida, and Agamben.” Human Studies 37, no. 4 (December 1, 2014): 505–28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-014-9327-z.

Ramphul, Kamleshun, and Stephanie Mejias. “Is ‘Snapchat Dysmorphia’ a Real Issue?” Cureus, 03, 2018.

Rankovic, Didi. “Google Leaker Zach Vorhies Delivers Trove of Data Showing Google Biases to the Department of Justice.” reclaimthenet.org, August 14, 2019. https://reclaimthenet.org/google-leaker-zach-vorhies-doj/.

Ratiu, Peter, and Ion-Florin Talos. “The Tale of Phineas Gage, Digitally Remastered.” New England Journal of Medicine 351, no. 23 (December 2, 2004): e21. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMicm031024.

Raymond, Eric S. “Jargon File Version 2.8.2,” 1991. http://catb.org/esr/jargon/oldversions/jarg282.txt.

—. The New Hacker’s Dictionary. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2002.

189

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Microsoft. “Responsible AI Principles from Microsoft.” Accessed February 15, 2020. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/responsible-ai.

Rienstra, Debra. So Much More: An Invitation to Christian Spirituality. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2005.

Ritvo, Eva. “Facebook and Your Brain: The inside Dope on Facebook,” 2012. https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/vitality/201205/facebook-and-your- brain.

Robinson, Wills. “Scientist Ian Gibbons Committed Suicide ‘amid Fears Theranos’s CEO Was about to Fire Him.’” Daily Mail Online, September 9, 2016. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3776888/Award-winning-scientist- struggling-make-Theranos-blood-test-machines-work-committed-suicide-amid- fears-Silicon-Valley-firm-s-32-year-old-CEO-fire-claims-wife.html.

Rohdewald, Stefan. “Figures of (Trans-) National Religious Memory of the Orthodox Southern Slavs before 1945: An Outline on the Examples of SS. Cyril and Methodius.” Trames-Journal of The Humanities and Social Sciences 12 (January 1, 2008). https://doi.org/10.3176/tr.2008.3.04.

Rosen, Rebecca J. “‘I’ve Created a Monster!’ On the Regrets of Inventors.” The Atlantic, November 23, 2011. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/11/ive-created-a-monster- on-the-regrets-of-inventors/249044/.

Rubin, Jonathan, and Ian Watson. “Computer Poker: A Review.” ARTINT Artificial Intelligence 175, no. 5–6 (2011): 958–87.

Russell, Stuart Jonathan, and Peter Norvig. Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach. Vol. 2. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2003.

Russian Today (RT). “Unacceptable Content? YouTube Ad Policy Bans Keyword ‘Christian,’” 2019. https://www.rt.com/news/465100-christian-keyword- unacceptable-youtube-ad/.

Samuel, A. L. “Some Studies in Machine Learning Using the Game of Checkers.” IBM J. Res. & Dev. IBM Journal of Research and Development 3, no. 3 (1959): 210–29.

190

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Samuel, Sigal. “Robot Priests Can Bless You, Advise You, and Even Perform Your Funeral.” Vox, September 9, 2019. https://www.vox.com/future- perfect/2019/9/9/20851753/ai-religion-robot-priest-mindar-buddhism-christianity.

Sarhan, Adam. “Planned Obsolescence: Apple Is Not The Only Culprit.” Forbes. Accessed April 5, 2020. https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamsarhan/2017/12/22/planned-obsolescence- apple-is-not-the-only-culprit/.

Sarna, Jonathan D. American Judaism: A History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004.

Schindler, Philipp. “Expanded Safeguards for Advertisers,” 2017. https://www.blog.google/technology/ads/expanded-safeguards-for-advertisers/.

Schmidt, Alvin J. How Christianity Changed the World. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004.

Sharpes, Donald K. Advanced Educational Foundations for Teachers: The History, Philosophy, and Culture of Schooling. New York: RoutledgeFalmer, 2002. Sheppard, Brian. “World-Championship-Caliber Scrabble.” Artificial Intelligence. 134, no. 1 (2002): 241.

Siemens Jr, David F. “Al, Scripture, and Hardware,” 2008. https://alumniproxy.lib.duke.edu/login?url==http://search.ebscohost.com/login.a spx?direct=true&db=a2h&AN=34195189&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Singh, Manish. “After Harsh Criticism, Facebook Quietly Pulls Services from Developing Countries,” 2018. https://theoutline.com/post/4383/facebook-quietly- ended-free-basics-in-myanmar-and-other-countries?zd=2&zi=ufdu4ppm.

Skocpol, Theda. States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia and China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979.

Smith, M. “Democratization of the Afterlife.” UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology 1, no. 1 (2009). https://escholarship.org/uc/item/70g428wj.

191

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Smith, Robin A. “Legacies of Cotton, Atomic Age Linger in Soil,” 2016. https://today.duke.edu/2016/05/piedmontsoilsaftercotton.

Smith, Samuel. “Is YouTube Targeting Christians and Conservatives With Its Advertising Policy?” 2017. https://www.christianpost.com/news/is-youtube- targeting-christians-and-conservatives-with-its-advertising-policy- 198744/?page=2.

Smith, William. A New Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, Mythology and Geography, Partly Based upon the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London, 1873.

Snower, Dennis J. “The Dangerous Decoupling,” 2017. https://www.g20- insights.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/The-Dangerous-Decoupling.pdf.

Soil Survey, Staff. Soil Taxonomy: A Basic System of Soil Classification for Making and Interpreting Soil Surveys. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, 1999.

Solsman, Joan E. “YouTube’s AI Is the Puppet Master over Most of What You Watch,” 2018. https://www.cnet.com/news/youtube-ces-2018-neal-mohan/.

Sproul, R. C. “Should Christians Be on Facebook?”, 2010. https://www.ligonier.org/blog/should-christians-be-facebook/.

Staff. “Artificial Intelligence: An Evangelical Statement of Principles.” ERLC, April 11, 2019. https://erlc.com/resource-library/statements/artificial-intelligence-an- evangelical-statement-of-principles.

Staff, Entrepreneur. “Whoops, Alexa Plays Porn Instead of a Kids Song!”, 2017. https://www.entrepreneur.com/video/287281.

Stross, Charles. Accelerando. London: Orbit, 2006.

—. Singularity Sky. London: Orbit, 2005.

Swamidass, Joshua. “The Overlooked Science of Genealogical Ancestry.” Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 70, no. 1 (March 2018): 19–35.

192

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Tambe, Milind. “Electric Elves: What Went Wrong and Why.” AI Magazine 29, no. 2 (2008). http://www.AAAI.org/ojs/index.php/aimagazine/article/view/2123.

Taube, Aaron. “The Man Who Invented The Cubicle Went To His Grave Hating What His Creation Had Become.” Business Insider, October 7, 2014. https://www.businessinsider.in/the-man-who-invented-the-cubicle-went-to-his- grave-hating-what-his-creation-had-become/articleshow/44632531.cms.

Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre. The Phenomenon of Man. New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1961.

Tertullian. De Praescriptione Haereticorum. Translated by T. Herbert Bindley. London and Bungay: Richard Clay and Sons, 1914.

“Tesla Autopilot Engaged during Fatal Crash.” BBC News, May 17, 2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48308852.

Tilley, Aaron. “Google’s Nest Stops Selling Its Smart Smoke Alarm For Now Due To Faulty Feature,” 2014. https://www.forbes.com/sites/aarontilley/2014/04/03/googles-nest-stops-selling- its-smart-smoke-alarm-for-now/#3992807045f1.

Tillich, Paul. The Spiritual Situation in Our Technical Society. Edited by J. M. Thomas. Macon, Ga.: Mercer, 1988.

Titcomb, James. “Robot Passport Checker Rejects Asian Man’s Photo for Having His Eyes Closed,” 2016. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/12/07/robot- passport-checker-rejects-asian-mans-photo-having-eyes.

Trustnodes. “Apple and Microsoft Now Worth More Than All German Stocks and Cryptos,” December 27, 2019. https://www.trustnodes.com/2019/12/27/apple- and-microsoft-now-worth-more-than-all-german-stocks-and-cryptos.

Van Geel, Mitch, Paul Vedder, and Jenny Tanilon. “Bullying and Weapon Carrying: A Meta-Analysis.” JAMA Pediatrics, 2014.

193

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Van Horn, John Darrell, Andrei Irimia, Carinna M. Torgerson, Micah C. Chambers, Ron Kikinis, and Arthur W. Toga. “Mapping Connectivity Damage in the Case of Phineas Gage.” PLoS ONE, 2012.

Varley, John. Millenium. Berkley, 1983.

Vinge, Vernor. “The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post- Human Era.” In Vision-21: Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in the Era of Cyberspace, 10129:11–22. Westlake, Ohio: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1993. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19940022856.pdf.

Von Rad, G. Genesis: A Commentary. London, 1963.

Wamsley, Laurel. “Japan’s Births Decline To Lowest Number On Record.” NPR.org. Accessed February 15, 2020. https://www.npr.org/2019/12/24/791132555/japans- births-decline-to-lowest-number-on-record.

Waters, Brent. From Human to Posthuman: Christian Theology and Technology in a Postmodern World. Ashgate Science and Religion Series. London, New York: Routledge, 2016.

Webb, Amy. Amy Webb on Artificial Intelligence, Humanity, and the Big Nine. econtalk.org: The Library of Economics and Liberty, 2019. https://www.econtalk.org/amy- webb-on-artificial-intelligence-humanity-and-the-big-nine/#audio-highlights.

Wells, Samuel. A Future That’s Bigger than the Past: Catalysing Kingdom Communities. London, UK: Canterbury Press Norwich, 2019.

Wenham, Gordon J., John Isaac Durham, and Philip J. Budd. Word Biblical Commentary. Vol 1: Genesis 1-15. Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1987.

Wertheim, Margaret. The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace: A History of Space from Dante to the Internet. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1999.

White, Lynn. “The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis.” Science 155, no. 3767 (1967).

194

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

White, Lynn Townsend. Medieval Religion and Technology: Collected Essays. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978.

Whittaker, Meredith, Kate Crawford, Roel Dobbe, Genevieve Fried, Elizabeth Kaziunas, Varoon Mathur, Sarah Mysers West, et al. “AI Now Report 2018,” 2018. https://ainowinstitute.org/AI_Now_2018_Report.pdf.

Wickelgren, Ingrid. “Mind Over Matter,” 2006. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2006/07/mind-over-matter.

Wikibooks contributors, "Computer Programming. “Computer Programming.” Wikibooks, The Free Textbook Project, n.d. https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Computer_Programming.

Willard, Dallas. Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2012.

—. The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’ Essential Teachings on Discipleship. San Francisco: Harper, 2006.

Wong, Joon Ian. “Facebook Is Trying to Get Rid of Bias in Trending News by Getting Rid of Humans,” 2016. http://qz.com/768122/facebook-fires-human-editors- moves-to-algorithm-for-trending-topics.

Woodfill, Jerry. “The Best of Nasa’s Spinoffs,” 2000. https://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/spinoff.html.

Wright, N. T. Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. New York: HarperOne, 2014. https://www.difa3iat.com/wp- content/uploads/2014/07/N.-T.-Wright-Surprised-by-Hope_-Rethinking-Heaven- the-Resurrection-and-the-Mission-of-the-Church-2008.pdf.

—. The Challenge of Jesus, 2015.

Yahyazade, Mozhgan. “Myth from a Psychological Point of View.” Journal of Arts and Humanities 2, no. 5 (2013): 67–73.

195

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Yampolskiy, Roman V. Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security. Chapman & Hall/CRC Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Series 7. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group, 2019.

196

DocuSign Envelope ID: FB240E3C-C14E-4346-9864-7756ABC573FC

Biography

Timothy Kasbe is a Dalit Christian born in a missionary family and serves in the

Anglican communion. His parents have worked with the Poona and Indian Village

Mission since 1955 building churches, schools and leprosy hospitals in rural Western

India. His only sister is involved in Bible translation and church planting work. Timothy

chose to break the family tradition and moved into secular work after studying

engineering. He has held executive positions globally serving as the Chief Information

Officer at Reliance Industries Limited, Mumbai; Sears Holdings, Chicago; Intrexon, San

Francisco; Gloria Jeans Company, Russia and IBM, New York, to name a few. With his

wife Amber, they have served as foster parents with Safe Families, USA, Detski Dom,

Russia and Oranga Tamariki, New Zealand. Timothy was a founding member of the

Good Shepherd Schools in India and has served as an advisor to Chabad House and the

Salvation Army in Russia, and Youthline in New Zealand.

197