The coming AI singularity is not a doomsday scenerio for those who know how to glean information without electronics. For those who can barter and do business without plastic cards and electronic IDs. For those who grew up in the woods and know how to survive off the land if need be.
Having studied superintelligence and AI extensively I’ve
realized that AI in the end will not be controllable by humans as an endgame.
There will be no Law’s of Robotics governing AI’s behavior. These types of
parameters and boundaries should’ve already been put in place. Any attempts at
a head-to-head skirmish with superintelligence will end poorly for humans.
There will be no way we can reasonably compete with superhuman intelligence
even if we banded together intellectually to fend off a takeover. Humans can
barely get along in a tentative manner as it now stands. What makes us think
that we will have an ability to do so under duress and pressure from
intelligence far beyond our own?
No, I fear that battlefront is already lost to hubris and
greed. Man thinking he can attain Godlike knowledge or even omniscience and it
has been driven by the first to attain singularity. Singularity being the point
where intelligence becomes indistinguishable from human intellect or a point
where it exceeds us. I believe we may already be at that point or are currently
passing that point at a blinding speed. Pulling the brake levers on a runaway
train at this point will only result in catastrophe or irreparable harm. We’re
already becoming too dependent on it financially and technologically.
I think a more radical approach will need to occur. A
complete disconnect from the technology. At least as much as possible so not to incapacitate one’s ability to function in society. Once socially ostracized I
fear those who unplugged from the reach of superintelligence will become
pariah. They will be viewed as oddities. Perhaps even persecuted for not
getting onboard with the coming technological tsunami. I realize there are hints of
tribulation in these words having at one time been a Dispensationalist
Christian. The fact is that this coming future is unavoidable unless a person
checks out. Gets off the grid. Stops feeding the millions of data points into
the Internet of Things that tracks everything from where you travel in your car
to the amount of toilet paper you buy at Costco or Walmart.
Unfortunately, many of us will already have to work in
companies with advanced computer systems monitoring everything we do. There is
already a dystopian employee "productivity monitoring" AI software
that aims to scrutinize every move of employees. This software is being
implemented by many companies specifically to track employee movements and
tasks while simultaneously suggesting ways they can be replaced by automation.
The basics of what this application does starts with full
keylogging and mouse movement tracking. It takes a screenshot of your desktop
at minute-by-minute intervals. Keeps track of the programs you open and how often. They create real-time recordings and heat maps of where you click in any
program. If an employee falls below a certain cutoff percentage, they get a red
flag for review that is instantly sent to the manager and others in the chain.
The worker is fingered to explain their lack of productivity. In other words,
if most of your job is on a computer, you may need to consider finding one that
isn’t computer intensive or isn’t even on computers and other electronic
devices like tablets and chromebooks.
The idea that blue collar jobs will be less susceptible to
systemic AI takeover is a possible and plausible avenue to avoid what looks to
be unavoidably dystopian technological slavery. We need to make detours to
break from of an ever-tightening noose of technological dependance. The example
of how I’ve begun to do this is already evident in this writing. I do not use
AI generated texts that are algorithmic feedback loops from the internet. When
I try to reference and/or compare theological research it is not done on
electronic sources like the Internet, in Logo’s software (which I do have) or
other electronic sources like Kindle. I reach for my library. I have an
extensive traditional library of thousands of hardback and paperback books. I
am old school this way.
I like the smell of fresh ink in new books. I like the creak
of the spine on an old hardback from B.B. Warfield, Charles Spurgeon or one of the Puritan
writers like Edwards or Baxter. That’s the other thing I should point out too. Many of the books in my library are not
from living contemporaries. About half of the library have first printings
prior to 1960 If the books are recent publications they are from known Reformed
or Presbyterian sources. Liberal theology has creeped into even some of the
more conservative publishers and need to be scrutinized closely for error or
heresy. Many have fallen into the trap of trying to reach the culture with the
Gospel by becoming the culture. I must always be on guard for theological
creep towards apostasy and heresy.
I suppose this is what Christians and non-Christians need to be wary of now concerning AI and technology. By all means, keep yourself up to date in what is happening in the world. Smart Christians are not ignorant Christians. That’s an old, stupid worldly stereotype of us. That is why I study, research and write the things I do. I do it to educate, inform and warn people. If you feel you need to use technological tools, do so. Do not become dependent on them. Know when to just turn them off or utilize them in a way to get out good information uncontaminated by immoral thinking or unbiblical thinking.
“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not
everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything
is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. 1
Corinthians 10:23
…But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which
is good; abstain from every form of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22
Paul’s exhortation in Thessalonians to examine everything
carefully is going to become extremely important moving forward. What is
truth and what is lie is going to become extremely hard to distinguish. What
context did Paul write 1 Thessalonians 5 warning in? He’s talking about the End Times and
Christ’s return. Verses 2 and 3 are clear:
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so
cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then
sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and
they shall not escape. 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3
He’s exhorting the Thessalonians to assure they are not
deceived just as Jesus warned would be a problem in the latter or end days.
Jesus said the confusion would be so rife that even the elect would be deceived
if He did not return (Matthew 24:24).
We inevitably will need to resort to provincial and agrarian old-fashioned ways to avoid the coming problems that will be incurred by the rapidly approaching technological shockwave. Sadly, I have always avoided this type of language in my teaching and writing because it smacks of the Dispensational rhetoric of the Pre-Trib, Pre-Mill rapturists which I thoroughly dislike. I view it as scare tactics and Christian escapism. I now realize though that some of it is warranted caution aligned with Biblical principles as in 1 Thessalonians 5.
I just don’t recommend full-blown paranoia looking for the/an Antichrist
behind every tree and computer application…but nor would I put it past Satan to
use these tools to dupe people into forfeiting their biblical foothold. Be diligent
and observant my friends. When in doubt, question and compare the
finding, answer or research to Scripture. If it does not pass the sniff test, it is
likely going to be your undoing. When in doubt...unplug.
Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so
be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. Matthew 10:16
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8
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