I read an unnerving article in Time magazine about the Singularity movement. Heard of it?
By 2045, man is expected to be immortal - through the exponential advancement of science and technology, a cutting-edge group of brains predict that by that year artificial intelligence will surpass the combined brain power of all humanity on earth....a billion times over. By that point it will be virtually impossible to tell the difference between human and machine. And speaking of machines - English biologist Aubrey de Grey says that's all our bodies are anyway. And, as with other machines, with the right care and upkeep (along with the right amount of telomerase given to dying cells) the process cannot only be halted, but reversed! (This enzyme was given to mice suffering from age-related degeneration and the mice got better....and younger.) Hello Benjamin Button!
Of course by then we will have the ability to transfer our minds over to "sturdier vessels" like computers and robots. Raymond Kurzweil believes that many who are alive today will "wind up being functionally immortal."
There are, naturally, those asking the important questions regarding such movement. "Who decides who gets to be immortal? As we approach immortality, omniscience, and omnipotence, will our lives still have meaning? By beating death, will we have lost our essential humanity?" Unfortunately, those questions are but a faint whisper beneath the roar of the A.I. engine.
I sat on my bed trying to make it through the whole article, flipping pages with sweaty hands and fighting off the sick feeling in my stomach. Is this the world I live in? Am I expected to rejoice with science as it lies in the threshold of declaring valiantly, "Oh death, where is your sting?" Should I be thrilled that technology is telling me I can live on this earth...forever? Is anyone thrilled at the thought of that?!
So many thoughts flood my mind. I think of the Tower of Babel and their attempt to become God. I think of how it is appointed unto man once to die. I think of my children and fight off feelings of fear for their future. I think of the multitude of people through the years who have gradually had their jobs replaced by a more efficient machine. And somewhere, in the midst of all that, I have this bold picture in my mind of Jesus hanging on the cross, dying to defeat the sting of death, ending His own life on this earth so that we might have it eternally (and thank GOD that doesn't mean on this earth!) I think of God being robbed of His glory, and my heart is burdened with both sadness and fear. How long, O Lord?
Of all the overwhelming thoughts and emotions that flooded my mind, there was one that stood out above the rest. I simply missed God - more than I have in a very long time. Because I read about these brilliant people who have worked so hard to be self-efficient - immortal, and how they view religion and God Himself as a necessity of former times, long since outdated and obsolete. After all, who needs a god when you are one?
I can't point out the stick in my brother's eye without being uncomfortably aware of the one in my own. So often I choose lesser glories over the glory and greatness of God. I see it reflected in my schedule, my finances, my thoughts, even my own heart. Thankfully, "even when our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and He knows everything, " 1 John 3:20. Needless to say, my thought process tonight has been one of humility and repentance, and it drove me to the point of shutting down the computer, putting away my phone and just sitting in the quiet, technology-not-required greatness of the mysterious presence of our glorious God. I don't always understand Him. I can't always feel Him. But I'm also learning I rather like it that way. He is wholly outside of my ability to control Him. It reminds me that He alone is God and I am not. He alone is omnipotent, omniscient, immortal.
For that, I praise Him.
By 2045, man is expected to be immortal - through the exponential advancement of science and technology, a cutting-edge group of brains predict that by that year artificial intelligence will surpass the combined brain power of all humanity on earth....a billion times over. By that point it will be virtually impossible to tell the difference between human and machine. And speaking of machines - English biologist Aubrey de Grey says that's all our bodies are anyway. And, as with other machines, with the right care and upkeep (along with the right amount of telomerase given to dying cells) the process cannot only be halted, but reversed! (This enzyme was given to mice suffering from age-related degeneration and the mice got better....and younger.) Hello Benjamin Button!
Of course by then we will have the ability to transfer our minds over to "sturdier vessels" like computers and robots. Raymond Kurzweil believes that many who are alive today will "wind up being functionally immortal."
There are, naturally, those asking the important questions regarding such movement. "Who decides who gets to be immortal? As we approach immortality, omniscience, and omnipotence, will our lives still have meaning? By beating death, will we have lost our essential humanity?" Unfortunately, those questions are but a faint whisper beneath the roar of the A.I. engine.
I sat on my bed trying to make it through the whole article, flipping pages with sweaty hands and fighting off the sick feeling in my stomach. Is this the world I live in? Am I expected to rejoice with science as it lies in the threshold of declaring valiantly, "Oh death, where is your sting?" Should I be thrilled that technology is telling me I can live on this earth...forever? Is anyone thrilled at the thought of that?!
So many thoughts flood my mind. I think of the Tower of Babel and their attempt to become God. I think of how it is appointed unto man once to die. I think of my children and fight off feelings of fear for their future. I think of the multitude of people through the years who have gradually had their jobs replaced by a more efficient machine. And somewhere, in the midst of all that, I have this bold picture in my mind of Jesus hanging on the cross, dying to defeat the sting of death, ending His own life on this earth so that we might have it eternally (and thank GOD that doesn't mean on this earth!) I think of God being robbed of His glory, and my heart is burdened with both sadness and fear. How long, O Lord?
Of all the overwhelming thoughts and emotions that flooded my mind, there was one that stood out above the rest. I simply missed God - more than I have in a very long time. Because I read about these brilliant people who have worked so hard to be self-efficient - immortal, and how they view religion and God Himself as a necessity of former times, long since outdated and obsolete. After all, who needs a god when you are one?
I can't point out the stick in my brother's eye without being uncomfortably aware of the one in my own. So often I choose lesser glories over the glory and greatness of God. I see it reflected in my schedule, my finances, my thoughts, even my own heart. Thankfully, "even when our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and He knows everything, " 1 John 3:20. Needless to say, my thought process tonight has been one of humility and repentance, and it drove me to the point of shutting down the computer, putting away my phone and just sitting in the quiet, technology-not-required greatness of the mysterious presence of our glorious God. I don't always understand Him. I can't always feel Him. But I'm also learning I rather like it that way. He is wholly outside of my ability to control Him. It reminds me that He alone is God and I am not. He alone is omnipotent, omniscient, immortal.
For that, I praise Him.
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