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The Age of AI: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity

2020; American Scientific Affiliation; Volume: 72; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.56315/pscf12-20thacker

0892-2675

Jason Thacker,

Economic and Technological Developments in Russia

THE AGE OF AI: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity by Jason Thacker. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Thrive, 2020. 192 pages. Hardcover; $22.99. ISBN: 9780310357643. *There are not yet many books that engage with artificial intelligence theologically. Jason Thacker's The Age of AI: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity, written for a general audience, provides an important start to much-needed theological discussions about autonomous and intelligent technologies. As an early effort in this complex interdisciplinary dialogue, this book deserves credit for its initial exploratory efforts. Thacker's book also points to the larger and more complex territory requiring further exploration. *Thacker, creative director at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and project lead for their "Artificial Intelligence: An Evangelical Statement of Principles," is eager to draw attention to the pervasive and disruptive presence of artificial intelligence in our lives. While some may be distracted by images of AI that are speculative--the utopian Commander Data or the dystopian Terminator--many have not given much thought to the actual forms of AI that are part of our lives already, such as recommendation systems and digital assistants. "AI is everywhere," Thacker says; "And we aren't prepared." To help the unprepared understand AI, Thacker provides an orientation to current AI developments and explores the wide-ranging impacts of these on self-understanding, medicine, family, work, war, privacy, and the future. Along the way, he recalls biblical wisdom about old moral problems and imperatives, such as what the Ten Commandments prohibit and what Micah 6:8 prescribes (doing justice, loving mercy, and journeying attentively with God). He also offers a number of familiar biblical assurances, such as not being afraid and trusting in God. *All of this is helpful, to an extent. Thacker's major conclusions about AI are that we should not let our creations--our artificial agents--supersede human agency, and that we should not place too much hope in technology, for it alone cannot save us. Both of these are important points, although neither is very controversial nor necessarily theological: transparency is called for in many AI ethical frameworks, and we are well into a period of technological disenchantment. *Thacker starts The Age of AI by asking two significant questions. First, what does it mean to be human? Thacker looks to Genesis 1, which states--three times--that God created humans in the image of God. Clearly, this is an important theological claim; it is also a very complex one. There are various interpretations of what it means to be created in the image of God, and this is only the first chapter of the biblical narrative. Thacker emphasizes a functional interpretation of Genesis 1: We are called to work to glorify God. Elsewhere, however, Thacker shifts to a more essentialist interpretation that emphasizes human dignity. He asserts that our dignity does not come from what we do and that "nothing in this world defines us" (p. 117). But what about the work we are called to do in and for the world? *Another challenge of beginning in Genesis 1 is what happens in Genesis 3--humanity's rebellion against God. Thacker claims that "the image of God in us was not lost" (p. 19), though he does not address the extent to which this image was corrupted. For Christians, what is most important is Jesus's redemption and transformation of that fallen image. What does the image of God in Christ, the new Adam, reveal about the future of humanity? *Questions raised by Thacker's answer to his first question carry over into his answer to his second question, what is technology (including AI)? For Thacker, technology itself is morally neutral: "What's sinful isn't the sword but how people choose to use it" (p. 20). Given Isaiah's eschatological image of swords beaten into plowshares, many would argue that the sword is part of a system of weaponry and warfare that is immoral and must come to an end. Going beyond Isaiah, Jacques Ellul concluded that the biblical city, as an image of the technological society, must ultimately be destroyed: the city is an autonomous, multi-agent system with a diabolical power that exceeds the power of the human agents who created it. (Ellul almost seems to suggest that there is something like a rogue AI in the Bible!) Ellul goes too far with this, missing the good in the city and the transformative power of new creation over sinful systems, but he rightly points to the deformative power of technology. Thacker acknowledges that technology profoundly changes us and our world, positively and negatively, but he seems to suggest that humans can easily remain in control of and essentially unchanged by it. *Thacker's emphasis on Genesis, "where everything began," appears to close off any discussion about evolution and its insights into the role of technology in our emergence as a species. Indeed, the archeological record reveals that the use of simple stone tools shaped ancient human bodies and brains. Technology not only preceded the arrival of Homo sapiens, it shaped our understanding of what a human being is in form and function. Furthermore, throughout human history, technology has continued to change us fundamentally. Consider, for example, Walter Ong's insight that the technology of writing restructured consciousness. From the perspective of evolution and cultural development, technologies have been shaping and changing what we are from the beginning. *Thacker critiques Max Tegmark and Yuval Noah Harari for conflating evolution and cultural development, but that misses their interest in how humans might continue to outrun natural selection through innovation--a path our species has been on for many millennia, at least since the agricultural revolution and the creation of the complex artificial environments we call cities. As controversial as they may be, Tegmark and Harari point to how a deeper historical and philosophical understanding of technology enables us to explore questions about the holistic transformation of humans and human agency. *Thacker's view of technology encourages pursuing "technological innovation to help push back the effects of the fall" (p. 70). He worries that we might be tempted to "transcend our natural limitations," although it is not clear how far we are permitted to push back against the corrupted creation. He also fears "the people of God buying the lie that we are nothing more than machines and that somehow AI will usher in a utopian age" (p. 182). Educating people to resist being reduced to the status of machines (or data or algorithms) should be a learning outcome in any class or discussion about AI. As for ushering in a utopian age, this is one way of describing (in a kingdom-of-God sense) the Christian vocation: participating with God in the new creation. And perhaps AI has a role in this. *Thacker is absolutely right that we need a foundational understanding of who we are and of what technology is, and his answers provoke a number of questions for further exploration. The Bible reflects a rich interplay between human technological and spiritual development, from Edenic agriculture through Babelian urban agencies. And, as a technology itself, the Bible participates in these developments through its origin, nature, and function to mediate divine agency that transforms human agency. The biblical narrative makes it clear that we are not going back to the primordial garden in Genesis; we are moving toward the eschatological city, New Jerusalem, imaged in Revelation--"and what we will be has not yet been revealed" (1 John 3:2). How we understand the relationship between technological transformation and the transformation of all things through the new creation deserves much more attention within Christian theology. *With AI, it is clear that we are facing an even more profound restructuring of our lives and world--and of our selves. Rather than looking back to the imago Dei corrupted in the beginning, Christians might find it more generative to look to the imago Christi. As N. T. Wright powerfully argues in History and Eschatology: Jesus and the Promise of Natural Theology (SPCK, 2019), the new creation inaugurated through the resurrection of Jesus provides a radically new perspective on creation. This includes us and our artificial creations. While Thacker believes "nothing will ever change fundamental aspects of the universe" (p. 168), some of us may imagine AI participating in the new creation. *For someone just beginning to think about AI and Christianity, The Age of AI might be a good place to start. But more needs to be read and written to explore the theological and technological questions this book raises. *Reviewed by Michael J. Paulus Jr., Dean of the Library, Assistant Provost for Educational Technology, and Director and Associate Professor of Information Studies, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, WA 98119.