Humans and Artificial Intelligence: Transforming the Relationship

 

Artificial Intelligence Is Unlike Other Innovation Because It Tries To Replace Our Humanity 

                                                  Joanna Maciejewska @AuthorJMac

I saw this meme posted at the top of a blog headline on Ace of spades. It's a succinct criticism of Artificial Intelligence that captures the current mood of a lot of Americans. We've never been a nation that's afraid of the future, technology or innovation. AI is different because instead of being a helper it's become a boss.

 Cartoons like the Jetsons and even TV shows like Star Trek, sold us on the idea that future tech would make the labor intensive aspect of life easier. This has mostly been the direction of innovation. Robots that did housework and computers that turned machines on an off with voice command, proved practical just decades later. Innovation keeps moving inexorably forward.  How many people ride a stagecoach across the country today? Railroads and planes made horses archaic for travel. No one reads by candlelight anymore. The electrification of cities and homes made it possible to work and entertain well after sundown. Not to mention the impact on factories. Innovation makes life easier by making productivity increase. It’s true for both labor intensive work and creative work.

Old Model New Model

In this old model innovation serves people, in the new AI driven model, people serve innovation. Everything about the human race is unique relative to the rest of Creation. We’re made in God’s image and we reflect our Creator in a myriad of ways. Not all of us can write a song or pitch a perfect game, but we carry the imprint of our Maker. That looks different for all us. I’ve worked with people who have a gift for comfort. They volunteer at hospitals, hospices and care centers. I use the word “gift” because it’s a gift to the ones who are helped by it, a reflection of God's mercy. But compassion and empathy are human qualities built into us. They aren't code. They grow and develop to varying degrees in individuals.

Artificial Intelligence works through a learning/predicting formula.  People are only formulaic on the surface. You can copy much of it, but you can’t replace the essential make up of God’s design. The apostle Paul describes it like this “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.” Romans 1:20

 It’s hard to define because no one can create life outside of nature. The best we can say about AI, is that it does an amazing job replicating. It’s an artificial product that functions much like the real thing. But it flattens out human irregularity and makes efficient what was never meant to be. We’re attracted to the efficiency of AI. But efficiency is a human invention. It’s a way of ordering our thinking to find the quickest, cheapest and easiest way to accomplish a task.

Efficiency and Flatness

Because of efficiency we get better (smarter) at doing the same task. Nothing is wrong with looking for easier solutions, but efficiency is not a high moral good. It’s just the way we approach life. Modern thinking elevates it to a kind of heroic endeavor, like finding the holy grail. We never get there but we’re moving closer every decade. In the corporate world it looks like replacing old intranet servers with cloud based ones. Then it looks like eliminating your IT staff, the fewer employees you have the less insurance and payroll you’ll need to shell out. Soon you’ll need only a handful of remote workers and eventually, none. AI will fill in the missing bits as the accounting, marketing, IT, human resources and sales departments have been replaced by a learning/predicting formula.

It’s the flattening of everything. Efficiency is flat. Humans are messy and colorful and different and weird. That’s the opposite of efficiency. None of this is to blame the companies for getting lean and trying to compete with others. Directionally it’s wrong though and I don’t pretend to know what to do about it. We might not need giant corporations anymore that hire thousands of employees. But might we also have more freedom to pursue multiple streams of income and have more agency?

Change is Inevitable

I think the AI revolution is two things; it’s one part technology and one part money grab. Tech companies need data centers and new laws that allow their investment to be part of the infrastructure of the future. I won’t call it a racket (not yet at least) but I do think a lot of the doomsday talk about 90% of jobs disappearing is designed seed the idea that AI is going to take over. By getting us used to the notion of this technology that decides nearly everything, we don’t protest so much. It’s “progress” after all. Who are we to complain?

Would God allow His people to live a life as a slave to an artificial form of intelligence like Skynet? No, but nor can I offer an optimistic solution where technology gets back to being a helper instead of a boss. But maybe it's doesn't have to replace creativity. Maybe it can add to instead of subtract from. A lot of people need a roadmap of the future or at least some sense of what to put their focus on. But we’ve never had this. Go back 25 years and try to remember what you thought your future would be. Are you working in the same field, married to the same spouse, living in the same city? For those that are younger, do the same thing with 10 years. How much has changed in any part of your life or the economy around you that you didn’t see coming?

Conclusion

The point isn’t to show you how wrong you are. It’s to recognize that change is inevitable and we can’t plan for much of it. Maybe I’m being too optimistic and yes, ignorance is bliss to quote an unfortunate truth. But the plan for humanity is ultimately up to God. Life gets easier when you let Him direct your steps. It’s a scary time for those who want control, much easier for those who trust in Jesus.  

“Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and mind through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6

 

Abraham, Sarah and God's Promise In Our Poor Choices

 

A Path of our Own Making: God's Promise to Abraham, Sarah and Hagar

I heard a great sermon last night. Saturday is my usual night for church. I always thought I’d go back to the Sunday morning, traditional, service favored by most people. But I’m as comfortable with the evening option as I was when made the change over 15 years ago. And now I volunteer, a new wrinkle that will made it tougher to go back to Sunday. 

The pastor laid out the connection between Adam and Eve and Abram and Sarah. Both women pursued their own paths by following personal choices and causing additional chaos. Their husbands followed the advice without a lot of thought or argument. Adam with the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and Abraham by sleeping with Sarah’s maidservant, Hagar.

The Altered Path

Chaos happens when we don’t consult God first. Or, when the serpent tricks us through cunning and sends us down a path that’s contrary to God’s plan. We make a mess when we come up with another option that doesn’t have God’s blessing. Frustration builds from waiting for the promise. We can glimpse a future that lines up with our interests, goals and skills, but getting there takes too long.

Most us can identify our skills. Either in relationships or practical smarts, we’ve learned through trial and error how to make a living. Interest is also easy to identify. No one who hates math will study accounting. Theater kids will avoid engineering and hard sciences. Sometimes it’s better to start with the unacceptable options and move toward acceptable ones. But these are basic life skills and interests that we take with us. They aren’t critical to the character we need to walk the long path of faith.  

Anyone following the Lord, will come to place of surrender. Abram had to leave his family into the unknown and trust that God had a better option, an offspring and a legacy beyond his wildest dreams. It didn’t happen right away. Sarah needed to be beyond her natural childbearing years. Only then could the miracle that God promised come about. But doubt creeps in when a promise is delayed, or taking longer than we think is reasonable. Sarah’s idea to let Abram sleep with her servant reflects a typical human way to “help” the divine plan along. “It’s not working like it should after all” goes the thinking. God promised Abram his offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky (Genesis 15:5). How then can that be if not through Sarah? She was too old right?

The Messy Path

Abram and Sarah took matters into their own hands and proposed an alternate solution to the offspring issue. It’s easy to look back on this avoidable mistake and think, “How could they misunderstand so completely?” But most of us have taken a path of our own choosing and had to correct the mistake. It could be a relationship that you knew wasn’t right or a risky job that seemed like good money and quickly fell apart. I’ve made both of those mistakes. Even in my error and selfishness, God’s grace brought me back to the true path. The fix for going astray can be painful. Depending on how far you wandered and how long you refused to surrender, getting back is uncomfortable. But God found Hagar in the middle of the desert and gently brought her back to her mistress Sarah, by reminding her of her place.

A lot of us need to know our place. That might be as an employee for a boss that doesn’t value you. For some of us it’s working 2 jobs until a better option opens up. Abram and Sarah’s early years in the desert is indicative of a Christian’s early years with the Heavenly Father. Mostly life moves slow and we wonder if we made a mistake. Was our previous vision of God’s blessing a mirage? Did we misunderstand our own abilities, interests and desires? Did we miss a checkpoint somewhere along the way divert into some unknown territory?

The True Path

 I’m sure Abram and Sarah had doubts over the years that we will never hear about. Their life is a model for the Christian walk. We must surrender our skills and interests and passions to God. Only then can he use our sacrifice and hand it back to us, cleaned up and useful for His kingdom.

How is it cleaned up? Because the interests, passions and skills we gave to God, have been washed of any selfishness ambition. We are becoming complete, as Paul would say, and lacking nothing. The long road of faith is what’s difficult to endure. We get anxious and doubtful and forget our place. How refreshing to know that we aren’t alone. How encouraging to know that others have walked the same path. Psalm 37:3-4 says “Trust in the Lord and do good: dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” By itself it’s a powerful verse of God’s goodness and overwhelming blessing.

Conclusion

But the next verse completes the promise more fully. “Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass.” (verse 5) It depends on our obedience to His plan. It’s the proverbial “catch” in the language requiring us to do our part. Abraham’s legacy speaks to just how amazing life can be, when we surrender our way to the Lord.