new church life : november / december 2016
spiritual intelligence
The endeavor to make computers that can “ think for themselves ” is progressing . This may seem to make them more like us , more human , but there is a consideration that has been mostly overlooked , because few people actually believe it – namely , that human beings do not really “ think for themselves .”
Thought , and consciousness itself , are effects of life , and there is only one Source of Life , the Lord . Our ability to think comes from the constant influx of life into our minds . The essential quality of our thoughts and ideas depends upon the degree to which the Life that drives them comes to us by way of heaven or is distorted by detouring through hell .
We do not just think , but we have a conscience and are able to direct and amend our thoughts . The innate faculty of conscience needs to be developed , however . A true , spiritual conscience grows in us when we learn the truths from the Word , take them to heart and obey them .
We also have free will and can choose what to think about . We are subject to influences from both heaven and hell , but we are not mere puppets , and can choose which kind of thoughts to embrace and cultivate and act upon , and which to resist and not act upon .
The secret of spiritual intelligence is to develop a habit of responding affirmatively to heavenly influences , while turning away from contrary ones and asking the Lord to send them away .
( WEO ) artificial intelligence
AI holds forth much promise for improving our natural lives , but also has the potential for serious harm , as a number of experts on the subject have warned .
Computers are machines , without human feelings or conscience or the ability to receive influx from the Lord . As they become more and more autonomous – endowed with the ability to “ think ” for themselves and learn from experience , and make choices independently of the humans who built them with these capabilities – what guarantee is there that they won ’ t choose to do things their human engineers never intended ? It is entirely conceivable that at some point they will come to regard human beings as competitors or potential threats that they must seek to eliminate .
On the other hand , we might be reassured by considering that the key word in the phrase “ artificial intelligence ” is . . . artificial . Real intelligence is a human attribute , and computers , not being human , are not really intelligent . They give the appearance of intelligence because of the vast store of information they contain and the speed with which they are able to access it . People , also , who have a lot of knowledge stored in their memory may give the appearance
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