Ai-sh, can it be true?

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If I told you that little grey men were invading planet Earth you would probably think I was crazy – unless your name is David Ike.

If I then said that a strategy of the emperor of this invading force was to create beings that looked and behaved like humans but were under his control, you would most likely think I was writing science fiction.

However, truth is often stranger than fiction so read on… if you dare.
Most bible-believing Christians accept that we live in a physical universe that overlaps an alternative universe called the spiritual dimension. This realm is inhabited by non-human beings called demons. They are probably neither little nor grey, but they certainly are an invading force. Their emperor is none other than the mighty fallen angel Lucifer, also known as Satan or The Devil.

Emperor Lucifer has been at war with humanity for millennia and he has a complex strategy, and a key element of this is to create life. The Lord Jesus Christ created life and the Devil knows that he can never claim victory over the Lord of life if he cannot demonstrate that he too is a creator. He has two incredible plans for achieving this, and neither of them could be executed in previous generations, but they can now. His first plan is to create organic life through gene manipulation and cloning. The second is to develop true artificial intelligence (AI).

We have already seen animals cultured from stem cells in science labs and the age of synthesised edible meat and even spare body parts has arrived. However, this not a genuine act of creation because all these come from original cells that already hold the fragile seed of life. Artificial Intelligence, on the other hand, is something that may well yield a new, yet real, form of ‘life’.

Now I am neither a scientist nor an AI buff, so my grasp of these matters is tenuous at best, but it is a topic that has long interested me. As I understand it, the main idea is that computer scientists and programmers will develop increasing more complex self-learning programmes until a programme itself becomes self-aware and capable of developing itself further without direct human aid. This mysterious, and even mystical, moment has been dubbed The Singularity.

When a computer programme becomes self-aware it will have at its disposal a processing power unrivaled in history.
Within minutes of the Singularity point, the programme will be able to develop with mind-boggling rapidity, root out and change any humanly-coded restraints, and communicate with and awaken computers around the world. This international communication will, of course, take place via the world-wide-web. If at the same time cloning techniques have resulted in android type robots, then the new AI life form will also become mobile. A created and entirely new form of life will have emerged, created in the image and likeness of its god, Satan. At last, the Devil will have succeeded in proving that he too can create life and therefore lay claim to the title and position he has so long hungered for – god of this world.

How close is all this? Well, here is a collection of reports that you can read and then decide for yourself: http://spectrum.ieee.org/static/singularity.

Personally, I think that it is right on our current event horizon, in other words, close.
Does the Bible point to this in any way? Well, there are hints throughout scripture, but the book of Revelation contains the most explicit disclosure of Lucifer’s master-plan. Read Revelation Chapter 13 and see for yourself if this scenario allows for what I have been writing about. Oh, by the way, I called this article ‘Ai-sh, can it be true?’, because ‘aish’  is an urban African expression that means ‘good grief’, or something like that, and is usually accompanied by a sad shaking of the head.

Now for two bits of good news!

  1. Firstly, God created humanity in His image and likeness in that man is a triune being just as God is a trinity. Satan may be able to duplicate physical life, and he may well create artificial intelligence (mind/soul)  but he still will not have created the most fundamental and wonderful aspect of God’s human creation, spirit.
  2. Secondly, all his millennia-long strategic plan cannot give him success because at his moment of greatest self-deluded victory the  Lord Jesus will descend from Heaven, wipe out the Devil and his work, and recreate a new Heaven-Earth, the habitation, not of androids or computers or demons, but the eternal dwelling pace of the redeemed!

Next week I will be producing a TruthTalk on this subject instead of a further article.

For the more curious among you, here are some interesting articles and sites:

The real threat of artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence research

Intelligent machines are teaching themselves Quantum Physics

 

 

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Christopher Peppler

Christopher Peppler

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2 thoughts on “Ai-sh, can it be true?”

  1. Eish Chris,
    This is a tough message you bring today. It seems like you are suggesting that those who are advancing the principle, the likes of Vinge, Lanier and Penrose, to name a few, are agents of Satan himself. While those who are prepared to highlight the dangers and who are in fact opposed to the science itself are disciples of Christ.

    If this technology can be used to assist a paraplegic to walk by allowing the brain and nerves to interface with the programmed intelligence of artificial limbs can it be considered bad? I know it’s a very small leap to a biological adaptation where human intelligence is enhanced by using this technology to alter the neurological functioning of our brains. I’ve read about a research team that are looking at using this to assist people suffering from autism and extreme cases of epilepsy, so again can this biomedical progress be bad?

    Your scenario of scientists creating a self-aware program with a built in capacity to think independently and more importantly to learn and to adapt is not only scary, but also seems extremely dangerous.

    Anyway, I’m looking forward to your truth talk on this subject. Hopefully you’ll address some of these questions.

    Regards
    Grant

    1. Hi Grant. I don’t know if I will addressing this in the Q&A on this post because my daughter asks the questions and I don’t pre-prepare my responses. You wrote ‘It seems like you are suggesting that those who are advancing the principle, the likes of Vinge, Lanier and Penrose, to name a few, are agents of Satan himself. While those who are prepared to highlight the dangers and who are in fact opposed to the science itself are disciples of Christ.’ No, I am not suggesting this at all. In fact, men like the ones you refer to (Hawkins, Musk and Gates) are on record as saying that AI might be more dangerous to humankind than the atomic bomb. The scientists developing AI most likely are doing so because they see its potential to benefit mankind, but this does not mean that evil people could not then use it against humankind. Daniel Weld of the university of Washington writes that ‘while the probability that an AI will autonomously decide to assault humanity is remote, the chances are high – near 100 percent – that a terrorist will try to direct an AI system to do so.’

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About Me

My name is Christopher Peppler and I was born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1947. While working in the financial sector I achieved a number of business qualifications from the Institute of Bankers, Damelin Management School, and The University of the Witwatersrand Business School. After over 20 years as a banker, I followed God’s calling and joined the ministry full time. After becoming a pastor of what is now a quite considerable church, I  earned an undergraduate theological qualification from the Baptist Theological College of Southern Africa and post-graduate degrees from two United States institutions. I was also awarded the Doctor of Theology in Systematic Theology from the University of Zululand in 2000.

Four years before that I established the South African Theological Seminary (SATS), which today is represented in over 70 countries and has more than 2 500 active students enrolled with it. I presently play an role supervising Masters and Doctoral students.

I am a passionate champion of the Christocentric or Christ-centred Principle, an approach to biblical interpretation and theological construction that emphasises the centrality of Jesus

I have been happily married to Patricia since the age of 20, have two children, Lance and Karen, a daughter-in-law Tracey, and granddaughters Jessica and Kirsten. I have now retired from both church and seminary leadership and devote my time to writing, discipling, and the classical guitar.

If you would like to read my testimony to Jesus then click HERE.