cheating death: Isaiah in the time of the singularity

 Today in the One Year Bible, we read from Isaiah 28:14-30:11. Isaiah tells us that the people of his time were under the illusion that they had cheated death using a strong refuge of lies and deception.

It's interesting that we continue to think that today. That we will cheat death through the means of our intellect and technology. There is a concept called the singularity, and many think it will happen in the next few years. One of the chief pundits on the subject says he would be surprised if it hasn't happened by 2030. The singularity is the moment that computers surpass humans in intelligence. Thinkers like Elon Musk and the late Stephen Hawking (among many others) worry that this will end humanity on planet earth, as they think the computer will find our existence illogical and eradicate us.

There is a corresponding belief that within the next decade or two we humans will be able to upload our consciousness into a computer and live forever. Kind of like Isaiah was warning us about in our reading for today - cheating death through technology.

Now, on the one hand it's a fascinating theory. In face, much of the technology that the books I've written are based on, relate to this theory in a favorable way. And the really interesting thing to realize about uploading ourselves into the computer is that we will almost certainly be able to upload our memories and current thoughts into a computer of some kind very soon. Whether our consciousness will then transfer to the computer, allowing us to live forever, is another question. But what we WILL have is a copy of ourselves. One that our friends and family, if they so decided, could talk to and question and interact with from now on. 

Will God allow us to transfer our consciousness to a computer and live forever? It doesn't seem likely, both from a theological and from a practical standpoint. Theologically God has already intentionally limited our lifespans. Genesis tells us that God "got tired" of dealing with us for hundreds of years, and decided to shorten our lives to about 70 so that the memento mori element might give us a reason to live right (that's a brief synopsis of the idea.) Practically, there is no reason to think that just because we upload all of our memories and thoughts into a computer that our consciousness will transfer along with it. At best, we'll have TWO of us, one in our fleshly bodies, and one in the computer. At "worst", we'll simply have a computer program that sounds a whole lot like us.

We'll see what happens! But I also posit that we might just be projecting onto the computers when we fear that they will destroy us. It's entirely possible to think that IF artificial intelligence ever becomes self aware, it might be benevolent. Maybe it will help us to live right. Can man create something that is ethically and morally superior to himself?

Good question.

God, thanks for giving us minds to think of such amazing things. Please give us wisdom to go with it.