Thought for Today
Genesis 3:12 The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate."
Genesis 4:8 Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let us go out to the field." And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him.
Psalm 8:3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; 4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? 5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.
Luke 10:27 "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."
This morning, my mind is focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI). My first thought is to question whether or not all signs of intelligence are artificial. It is significant that 2 of the first stories in the Bible, eating the forbidden fruit and Cain v. Abel, are offered in Genesis. At first reading, one cannot help but wonder about both. Did Adam really believe that telling God, “Look there are only 3 of us here, and the fault is not mine” would absolve Adam of any consequences of his disobedience? Similarly, did Cain really believe that killing his brother would somehow coerce God into having to accept Cain’s offering? Sadly, the answer to both is “Yes.” What does that tell us about non-artificial intelligence?
Genesis is a bit ‘fuzzy’ on the exact dating of the Adamic Defense or the Justifiable (?) Murder. Certainly, both of those events are set in very ancient times! “The earliest-known remains of modern humans were discovered at Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, dating to approximately 315,000 years ago.” (Copilot Search) Neither science nor religion can give us an exact date for either Adam’s or Cain’s evidence of non-artificial intelligence. Irrespective of that, recorded history and today’s news suggest that we have not progressed much beyond their thinking.
Look around, listen to what is going on. No one is ever at fault. Everyone is an innocent victim. Many people obviously still believe that “Might makes Right!” It is even more terrifying to read the Parable of the Vineyard in Matthew 21, “38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.' 39 So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"
Is AI a cause for concern? Definitely! Even if you haven’t seen the movie The Matrix or don’t know about Terminators, like all scientific discoveries, AI has the potential for misuse and harm. Nobel invented dynamite, realized its potential for misuse, and endowed the Nobel Peace Prize. The same nuclear fission that produced the bombs that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaka powers much of the electricity for many countries. You are naïve if you do not believe that somewhere, in a secret laboratory, there are those attempting to combine our latest genetic science with AI to allow them to create a weapon enabling them to conquer the world. Clone armies? Super soldiers? Who knows? The benefits of science are real, the potentials for misuse are equally real. We need to proceed carefully and thoughtfully.
God has repeatedly tried to explain things to us, from Adam to Cain to today. I always wonder whether or not God answered Cain’s "Genesis 4:9 I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" with “DUH! YES!” We are all our brothers’ keepers. The psalmist understood exactly how much we have been given by God. Micah understood what God requires from us. When we still did not get the message, God even sent God’s Son to explain things to us. Reread those verses above from Matthew 21 and ask yourself today, “What will God do to the tenants of God’s Creation?”
Many Christians believe that Jesus will come again. There are a plethora of differing opinions on the exact timing and the details of what will then occur. Maybe we should reread the stories of Adam and Cain. Adam was ejected from Eden. God said to Cain, “Genesis 4:12 When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth." What will God say to us when we do not do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God? What will God do when we do not love God with all we have and are and we do not love our neighbor as ourself?
Love God, love each other, trust God,
Pastor Ray