It's communication, stupid!

Remember the great catch-cry of Bill Clinton, during the 1992 US Presidential campaign?  "It's the economy, stupid."  Well, in life, our catch-cry may be - "It's communication, stupid." 

Last week, I took up the gauntlet of communication, for I was at this two day conference, focuusing on religious communication and AI (Artificial Intelligence).  The truth is I have enough problems dealing with present day reality, as does the rest of humanity, judging by the number of wars now waging in our world.   Anyway, I was told that we are at the cusp of Industrial Revolution 5.0, and it just isn’t going to go away.  So deal with it!    

Since leaving this conference, I have been trying to get my head around what I learnt.  I was just dumbstruck to hear that, within the Christian tradition, ones are granting quasi human status to robots.  This is seemingly happening within quarters of the Evangelical tradition, or so I heard.  When grappling with robots, there then arise the same theological questions surrounding the human person.   I found that unbelievable, but that was what I was hearing. 

I find such a development crazy and dangerous.  Why does any reasonable Christian even attribute any human quality to a robot?  Human beings just do not create human beings.  Ai can’t be human in anyway, as it is a human construct.  Only God can create a human being.  That is at the basis of Christian faith and belief.  AI is a human tool, and that is it.  But this challenge is not being so easily met and contained.      

A picture of the conference stays with me.  It was a guy hugging his computer screen, as a sign of love and affection for his AI companion.  This is just crazy and dangerous at all levels of human existence.  So much to digest with a whole new world quickly approaching, while we are failing to deal with the world presently before us.  Just absolutely amazing. 

Thankfully, the church response has not been one of denial, nor simply to be reactive, but to proclaim that this newly arising tool is to be used responsibly and ethically, for the good of all humanity.  Will we?  Well, the bottom line is that religion needs to be proactive, for this outcome to occur, ever upholding the dignity of the person and transformation as the goal of all our activity as church. 

I know now a new and stark challenge is before us and is here to stay.   They key word for religion remains transformation.  Whatever the age or the technology, transformation is ever the goal of religion, for that is what the gospel is about – human transformation.   As usual, I don’t have the answer.  I just know what I know and, for now, I try to digest what I heard at a conference on religion in today’s world.