Opus 2023-142: The Problem of Intelligence

Do we need to worry about AI?  Is there really something to worry about or is it just another attempt to make us cry out for government regulation to make us safe?

In one sense we need to worry a lot.  The concern at present levels would not be with the AI itself but with the people programing and controlling it.  The computer operates under the parameters set by people.  People often have questionable motives.  We have seen this in the way that the social media has censored and controlled information based on the political views of the moguls.  Your best interest is not in their hearts.  We have computer hardware, software and algorithms that can either make sure your stove is not left on or cause the stove to burn down your house.  It all depends on who set it up.

In the future we might need to worry about autonomous AI but again that will be because the people developing it did not have humanity’s best interest at heart.  Computers tend to be really good at remembering and going fast.  Thus if they have your face on file they can go through the entire population shown on cameras and locate you quickly.  It could happen faster than you can exhale.  The problem is created by the human who labeled you to be on their radar.  The question is do they have the right to do that search?  

Autonomous AI is still a theme in science fiction.  Whether it will ever become a reality is questionable, but what if it is possible?  My question becomes, “Will God allow humans to create an equivalent of life?”

Satan asked it better in the Garden,

(Gen 3:5 KJV)  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

See, it is nothing new.  Human beings, being made in the image of God, have a God complex.  We tend to reach for the stars, not because we want to learn about the stars, but because we want to control the stars.  What we have in AI is the same chorus.

We saw it again at the Tower of Babel.

(Gen 11:4 KJV)  And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

In that case God confused their language, they started fighting and broke up.  Will God intervene again?  Will the natural selfishness we share cause the elites to begin the feast where they eat their own?  

You might remember the story of the fiery furnace.  The issue was a refusal to worship the king as a god.  As we look at our culture we don’t often hear people claiming to be gods but they still want us to bow down to them and their authority.  Years ago when I was in the Army I had real problems with many of the officers and senior enlisted men.  They seemed to think they knew what was best and I was there to obey.  It was kind of like our government today.

Do we have anything to worry about?  Of course we do.  Even if we didn’t we would find something.  I think of all the times I was sent to find the source of a noise that only my wife could hear.  The issue today is there are a lot of noises but people are ignoring them.

Let AI sort itself out.  What you can do is get off the electronic dependancy that we all suffer from.  Start by cutting back.  Siri can’t answer your questions if your phone is turned off.

homo unius libri