Archive for the ‘Human Immortality’ Category

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein can illuminate the debate over … – Big Think

In January 1818, Mary Shelley anonymously published a strange little novel that would eventually make her world-famous. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is the story of a scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who is driven by an unrelenting thirst for knowledge, an ambition to penetrate the secrets of nature, heaven, and Earth. He works tirelessly to engineer a sentient being who, upon coming alive, is hideous to him.Realizing with horror that his plan has gone awry, Frankenstein flees his creature who in turn angrily chases him to the end of the Earth and finally destroys him at the novels end.

Shelleys dystopian tale has managed to stay relevant since its publication.It has a riddling, Zen koan-like quality that has edified and entertained readers for centuries, inspiring a range of interpretations.Recently, it has been making appearances in the heated debates over generative artificial intelligence, where it often is evoked as a cautionary tale about the dangers of scientific overreach.Some worry that in pursuing technologies like AI, we are recklessly consigning our species to Victor Frankensteins tragic fate.Our wonderchildren, our miraculous machines, might ultimately destroy us. This fear is an expression of what science fiction writer Isaac Asimov once called the Frankenstein complex, a Luddite fear of robots.

Strangely, its not only Luddites expressing such fears today; it is also some of the people who are most aggressively at the forefront of technological innovation.Elon Musk seemed to have had Mary Shelleys story in mind when he warned a World Government Summit in Dubai in 2017 that sometimes a scientist will get so engrossed in their work that they dont really realize the ramifications of what theyre doing.

But Frankenstein, thankfully, offers much more than a warning about robots.It is a rich and sober account of human error, a testament to lifes mystery, and a dramatic illustration of the redeeming roles of humility and affection.It encourages us to awaken to and love the small piece of reality we inhabit To see, as William Blake put it, a World in a Grain of Sand.As the AI revolutionary tide carries us along into what may be a transhuman future, it can continue to show us who we are, have been, and might be in an unfolding reality that always surprises and exceeds human designs.

Shelley wrote Frankenstein in response to a challenge issued by her friend the poet Lord Byron after a late-night discussion about the principle of life.The Scientific Revolution was well underway by then, and her group of friends had gathered around a fire one summer night by the shores of Lake Geneva, as rain pummeled the rooftops and lightning electrified the skies, to probe the mysterious nature of this thing they and we call life.What is its principle, they wondered?Can life be manufactured out of nothing, or even, say, out of a corpse?Could humans be lifes creators?

The men talked and Shelley, still a teenage girl, sat and quietly listened.She had an important perspective to contribute to the conversation, however, a knowledge about the origins of life that bore directly on their discussions.She had, after all, given birth to a child who had died a couple of weeks after birth, and, a year later, she had birthed a second child who survived.Her mother, the Enlightenment thinker Mary Wollstonecraft, had died of puerperal fever shortly after her own birth, and that death had long haunted her. The principle of life was for her more than an abstract philosophical topic. It had been intimately, powerfully, and tenuously experienced in her own physical body.To gestate a new life was empowering; to lose a child, or to struggle to sustain one, was humbling.

Unfortunately, the men did not enlist her opinion on such a weighty topic.She remained a mere fly on the wall during their discussions, but the wheels in her head were turning.In the days, weeks, and months that followed, she responded to Byrons prompt by writing her Gothic novel.Frankenstein would eclipse in popularity, enduring relevance, and prescience anything those men ever wrote.

Shelley was a believing Christian, and she begins the novel with an assertion which reads at first like a religious rejection of science: Supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavor to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world.But she also understood that science is not the only ways humans have tried to play God.Childbirth is also a God-like activity, undertaken without God-like powers.Childbirth is divine, but it is also marred by human hubris and failure.

This was not an entirely novel interpretation; it was rooted, in fact, in Scripture. In Genesis, Eve had been enticed by the serpents tantalizing promise: When you eat of [the fruit] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,knowing good and evil.God in turn retaliated: In pain you shall bring forth children, he tells Eve.Childbirth is the cursed consequence of Eves quest for God-like knowledge, and it is only possible after the fall.Eves descendants learn to live with this curse, to even see in it a hopeful promise of fruitful multiplication.

This storys contradictions riddle her characterizations.Many interpreters have condemned Frankenstein as more villainous than his murderous monster, but Shelleys narrative resists such unilateral assignments of blame. If Frankenstein is a villain, then so is Eve, so is she, and so was her mother; they had all, despite their best intentions, failed the vulnerable lives they had made. In an 1831 introduction, Shelley called the novel itself her own hideous progeny. In writing it, she had also over-reached, had tried to create a universe out of her own small grain of sand. She confessed, however, an abiding affection for the book, and she bid it to go forth and prosper, just as God had done with his fallen creatures.

Her exploration of the ethics of Frankensteins scientific experiment is similarly complex and subtle.Her scientist, to begin with, is not exactly a scientist.Victor Frankenstein is an occultist who, in his teens, had stumbled upon the work of a German Renaissance soldier and polymath who was influenced by Kabbalah, Hermeticism, and Neo-Platonism.His father and a professor advise him that he is foolishly burdening his memory with exploded systems and useless names.But he ignores them, preferring the forgotten alchemists chimeras of boundless grandeur, their dreams of immortality and power, to the modern natural philosophers more limited ambitions.

The problem, he confesses, was that his reading of modern philosophers had left him feeling unsatisfied.In reading them, he felt like Isaac Newton who once avowed that he felt like a child picking up shells beside the great and unexplored ocean of truth. He wanted to wrap his arms around that whole, great ocean.Is that really such a bad thing? Havent we all felt that desire for wholeness? But his ambition pushed him further.A new species, he dreams as he labors in his workshop, would bless me as its creator.

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Its not this hubris alone that seals his fate, however.It is also his denial of human community.In committing himself to his ambitious goals, he isolates himself, losing physical touch with the people that had once populated his world.The happy man, he admits, is one who believes his native town is the world.But Frankenstein was intent on forsaking that native town for the world. That forsaking is echoed in his abandonment of his monster and in his negative response when his creature begs him to make him a female companion. Fearing that he will end up with two monsters and double the trouble, Frankenstein says no, again denying the claims of human affection.

He could, of course, have embraced his failure, accepting that he had lost control, and committing himself to make the most of it, to even love the monstrosity he had made.Mary Shelley seems to have done just that when she bid her hideous progeny to go forth and prosper. Frankenstein reminded her of the people she had loved and lived among reminded her too, perhaps, of how she had once herself been a child picking up shells beside the great and unexplored ocean of truth.

As the debates about generative AI roil our societies, we might remember what Shelley revealed: how the secrets of nature have always eluded our dominion and defied our best intentions.Everything, she wrote, must have a beginning The Hindus give the world an elephant to support it, but they make the elephant stand upon a tortoise.Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos.It is tortoises the strange and unruly secrets of life all the way down.

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Mary Shelley's Frankenstein can illuminate the debate over ... - Big Think

Universal: 5 Halloween Horror Nights burning questions answered – Yahoo News

ORLANDO, Fla. During the first week of Universals Halloween Horror Nights, we learned a lot about the creatures and stories involved in the 2023 houses and zones. We met blues musician Pinestraw Spruce, encountered Vecna of Stranger Things fame plus yeti out the wazoo and even were reunited with a couple of Dueling Dragons.

Still, there were lingering, burning HHN questions, which Lora Sauls, assistant director of creative development and show direction, agreed to field. We chatted about the age of Dr. Oddfellow, the marching Megans and the whereabouts of Carey, Ohio, which in real life is Sauls hometown.

Q: Are adjustments made after the first weekend of HHN?

A: Halloween Horror Nights is an ever-evolving, live event. We want to make it perfect for our guests, so after that first weekend, we listen to what our guests are loving, were seeing what our guests just want more of and were trying to make sure were doing the best and putting the best out there for our guests. So what I can say is Halloween Horror Nights is a living and breathing event. And there are always ways that we can better our scares for our guests.

Q: The proximity of the scare actors makes us wonder Are we back to prepandemic closeness?

A: We do not touch our guests. Thats one thing we pride ourselves in. But we want to get as close to our guests to give them that startle scare. So yes, Halloween Horror Nights is back. Its our 32nd year, and were doing bigger and better things. And were focused on really getting that amazing scare in our scare zones and in our haunted houses.

Q: Whats the deal with Dr. Oddfellow, who has a hand in the Twisted Origins haunted house and all five scare zones, which are set in different time periods? Is he, like, really old or what?

A: He is timeless. He has gained immortality through stealing the souls of humans, and he really, truly gained that immortality in Dr. Oddfellows Twisted Origins in his circus. In the 1920s, he was an adventurer. He was a collector of sorts. And so he went to this jungle, and he had heard about this skull that would give you power. He found this skull, which would then become the top of the cane of souls. As soon as he found the skull, he felt the skull talking to him and giving him this power that he had never felt before. He also felt the skull giving him the power to manipulate things and beings into his own doing.

He felt the power of the skull He knew he had to collect the souls of human beings in order to gain more immortality from this skull. While in the Dust Bowl, he affixed it to his cane, and thats where you got the cane of souls. And thats why in the circus, in Twisted Origins, he is inviting these murderers to be a part of his twisted carnival act, so that they can murder for him, so he is just collecting their souls within this carnival. That is where, in the 1930s, Dr. Oddfellow gains his immortality. And then he lives with this for several decades. In about the 1960s he realizes he wants more, hes not done with this.

So Dr. Oddfellow has been collecting things and becoming so immortal that hes kind of been waiting in the shadows. He allowed Jack (the Clown) to have his time at Halloween Horror Nights. And this year, he felt like it was his time. He collects the souls of those who enjoy fear and enjoy the chaos and enjoy deceit and so he is here because if he collects every soul that comes in to Halloween Horror Nights, he will become the most powerful immortal in the universe.

Q: Where can we see the dancing Megans in action?

A: Well, its a bit of a pop up. We want you to stumble upon them, not search them out. We are calling them our Megan flash mob. They come out and they do in Megans true form our Megans do this dance that is very kindred to what you might have seen in the M3GAN film, and then they kind of spread out and do a really short photo opportunity. But it is very short, and then they disappear. They will pop up at a couple of various locations around the park. Thats going to vary even days and times may vary. We want it to be a surprise and delight for our fans.

Q: Did we overlook where Carey, Ohio, fits into things this year?

A: Carey, Ohio, was a part of the event for a very long time. And Im not going to say that Careys never going to come back. But we wanted to step away from Carey, Ohio, for a few years and see what we could create without leaning on that fictional town.

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Universal: 5 Halloween Horror Nights burning questions answered - Yahoo News

Obscure Vampire Movies You’ve Probably Never Heard Of – MovieWeb

Vampires have long held a mesmerizing allure in the realm of cinematic horror and have been a staple of the genre since the dawn of film. From the classic elegance of Bela Lugosi's Dracula to the sparkling undead of Twilight, the vampire subgenre is filled with riffs on the legendary creatures of the night, some better known than others.

With hundreds of films made about vampires, its obvious that some are going to fly under the radar. While these films may not have enjoyed mainstream acclaim or box office success, they have left their mark on the genre, tantalizing those with an appetite for the unusual and offering fresh perspectives on ancient mythos.

Just in time for Halloween and the need for something new to watch. From forgotten classics of the past to contemporary hidden treasures, here are 12 obscure vampire movies youve probably never heard of but definitely need to check out.

The lavishly atmospheric and romantic Only Lovers Left Alive is a vampire movie that only Jim Jarmusch can make: light on plot, heavy on style, and really, really cool.

The movie revolves around the reclusive musician Adam (Tom Hiddleston) and the philosophical Eve (Tilda Swinton), two vampires who have been married for centuries but now live half a world apart. Adam has grown disillusioned with the declining state of the world and has become suicidal. Worried he may end his centuries-long life, Eve travels to Detroit to visit her husband in the hopes of reigniting his lust for life.

Rather than focus on the gruesome bloodletting that seems to be the driving force behind every vampire movie, Jarmusch explores the ennui of immortality and the power of enduring love. The cinematography is lush, the mood is exquisite, and like every Jarmusch movie, the soundtrack is the epitome of cool.

Jim Carrey made his Hollywood feature debut in the forgotten 80s vampire horror-comedy Once Bitten. Howard Shores film stars Lauren Hutton as The Countess, a 400-year-old vampire who needs to drink the blood of a virgin three times to maintain her youthful appearance and immortality. Finding a virgin in the hedonistic city of Los Angeles is difficult, but the Countess lucks out when she crosses paths with Mark Kendall (Carrey), a naive high school student desperate to lose his virginity, who she easily seduces and turns into a vampire. But Marks girlfriend, Robin, threatens to intervene before the Countess can finish her ritual.

Related: 25 Great Low-Budget Horror Movies You've Probably Never Heard Of

Once Bitten was positively lambasted upon release (it still holds a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes), but in the near-forty years since its release, the admittedly sophomoric horror-comedy found a small but passionate audience. It may not be the best film on this list, but its a goofy good time, and its always fun to see Jim Carrey in an energetic and lively performance.

Neil Jordans 2012 vampire film Byzantium, based on Moira Buffinis novel A Vampire Story, stars Saoirse Ronan as Eleanor, an introverted teenage vampire living in secrecy at the rundown Byzantium Hotel with her mother, Clara (Gemma Arterton). The two have been on the run for centuries from The Brethren, a male-dominated vampiric society that wants them dead. Their quiet lives are put at risk, however, when Eleanor develops feelings for Frank (Caleb Landry Jones), a young man dying from leukemia who wishes to become a vampire.

Buffinis novel offers a refreshing perspective on typical genre tropes through her exploration of motherhood and female empowerment within a hostile, male-dominated community of vampires. Jordan effectively captures the melancholy and anger of the source material, thanks to Sean Bobbitts alluring cinematography and Javier Navarretes unnerving score.

Filmmaker Tony Scott made his directorial debut with The Hunger, an erotic horror film starring Susan Sarandon as Sarah Roberts, a research scientist who enters into a love triangle with two centuries-old vampires, Miriam (Catherine Deneuve) and John (David Bowie). Miriam seduces Sarah and introduces her to the world of vampirism, but she struggles to come to terms with her newfound immortality and appetite for blood.

The Hunger received mixed reviews upon release (Roger Ebert certainly wasnt a fan, calling it an agonizingly bad vampire movie), but its overt sensuality and LGBTQ+ themes garnered just as many fans as it did critics. In the time since, the filmhas developed a passionate cult following, with many praising its erotic take on the vampire mythos.

Filmmaker provocateur Abel Ferrara ventured into the vampire genre with his 1995 black-and-white horror film The Addiction. Lili Taylor stars as Kathleen Conklin, an introverted and overworked NYU grad student who is attacked by a bloodsucker and soon develops the traditional symptoms of vampirism: a thirst for blood, an aversion to daylight, and an inability to eat regular food. At first, she tries to resist, but not only does she give in to her murderous cravings, she begins to enjoy it. But things begin to change for the better when she meets Peina (Christopher Walken), a vampire who has conquered his addiction to blood and has agreed to help Conklin overcome hers.

If the films title didnt give it away, Ferrara envisioned The Addiction as an allegory for drug addiction. Having battled a nasty heroin habit for years, Ferrara recognized the parallels between addiction and vampirism and wanted to make a film that channeled his struggles and eventual rehabilitation. Like many of the directors works, The Addiction can be heavy and hard to watch. But unlike Ferraras other films, it also feels oddly hopeful.

David Cronenberg followed his debut feature Shivers with the equally stomach-churning vampire-adjacent shocker Rabid. Marilyn Chambers stars as Rose, a woman who undergoes a surgical operation following a horrific motorcycle accident. She falls into a coma and wakes a month later, only to discover a vampiric stinger under one of her armpits and an unquenchable thirst for human blood. Those she bites become infected, and the epidemic continues to spread through Montreal, threatening to consume the entire country.

If youre familiar with Cronenbergs work and his penchant for overtly sexual body horror, then you know exactly what youre getting with Rabid. (Variety called it an extremely violent, sometimes nauseating, picture in their review.) Its a gruesome combination of the vampire and zombie subgenres and is one of Cronenbergs more underappreciated works.

George A. Romero may forever be remembered as the father of the zombie genre, but the iconic filmmaker made a provocative and powerful contribution to the world of vampire cinema with the criminally overlooked Martin.

John Amplas stars as the titular Martin Mathias, a young man who comes to believe he is a vampire. To satiate his bloodlust, Martin drugs women and bleeds them dry. Though hes riddled with guilt over his murderous actions, his hunger is far too strong to ignore, and the troubled young man succumbs to a life of isolation and violence.

Romero considered Martin to be the best film hes ever directed, and for good reason: its an incredibly mature and probing look into the reality of being a vampire. The strength of Romeros film lies in its ambiguity: the audience is never quite sure if Martin really is a vampire or someone suffering from a worsening psychotic delusion. Hell, even Martin isnt sure, and all his efforts to rid himself of this curse end in vain. Its a clever, if incredibly downbeat, retooling of the classic vampire mythos that is worth a look.

Bill Gunns experimental vampire movie Ganja & Hess follows Dr. Hess Green (Duane Jones), an anthropologist who becomes a vampire after being stabbed with an ancient African dagger by his unstable assistant (Gunn), who then commits suicide. Hess struggles with his newfound bloodlust but finds solace in Ganja (Marlene Clark), his assistant's widow. The two fall in love, and Ganja agrees to become a vampire so they may spend the remainder of eternity together. But, of course, good things cant last forever.

When Ganja & Hess premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1973, the unabashedly artsy film was met with critical acclaim. But when it made its U.S. debut, it was poorly received by critics who didnt understand (or care about) the films underlying political and cultural symbolism. The movies poor reception led to its producers selling the rights to Heritage Pictures, a distribution company specializing in Grindhouse-style movies. They recut the film to better fit their genre sensibilities, shaving off more than 30 minutes of footage and totally butchering Gunns vision in the process. Retitled Blood Couple, the film was an even bigger commercial failure.

Fortunately, Gunns original version of Ganja & Hess has been restored to its original glory and is widely available. (Sadly, Duane Jones and Bill Gunn both passed away before the film received its overdue critical reappraisal.) Its an avant-garde and socially conscious take on the vampire genre thats more than worth your time.

Loosely based on mile Zola's novel Therese Raquin, Park Chan-wooks darkly funny and positively wild Thirst is one of the best vampire films to release this century, but its been widely overlooked outside of South Korea.

The film stars Song Kang-ho as Sang-hyun, a Catholic priest who volunteers for a secret vaccine development project intended to eradicate the fatal Emmanuel Virus. The experiment goes awry, however, and Sang-hyun is left with an insatiable desire for blood and the pleasures of the flesh. To make matters worse, he begins a passionate and forbidden love affair with Tae-ju (Kim Ok-bin), the unhappy wife of his childhood friend, leading them both down an increasingly gruesome rabbit hole of depraved sex and violence.

Fans of Park Chan-wooks work know what to expect with Thirst: its provocative, boundary-pushing, and deliriously fun. Fans of South Koreas more extreme genre films (including I Saw the Devil, The Wailing, and Park Chan-wooks own Vengeance Trilogy) will surely cherish the gory delights of Thirst.

Indie horror maverick Larry Fessenden wrote, directed, and starred in his 1997 vampire horror film Habit, in which he plays Sam, a self-destructive alcoholic who meets the beautiful but mysterious Anna at a Halloween party. The two are immediately drawn to each other and embark on an all-consuming romance. But Sam starts to suffer from a strange illness and soon begins to suspect Anna is actually a vampire, and hes been turned.

Related: The Most Iconic Vampire Hunters In Movie History

Like Abel Ferraras The Addiction, its pretty obvious just by the title alone that Fessendens Habit is more or less an allegory for alcoholism and the self-destructive lifestyle of addicts. Its grim, dark, and gritty, with a heavy atmosphere thats hard to shake.

Jim Mickles indie post-apocalyptic vampire film Stake Land has gone underseen and underappreciated since its quiet release in 2010. Set in a dystopian world overrun by vampires following a viral outbreak, the film centers around a young boy named Martin who, after his family is killed by vampires, joins forces with a seasoned vampire hunter named Mister. Together, they embark on a perilous journey through the desolate American landscape, searching for a rumored safe haven known as "New Eden."

Despite its obvious low budget, Mickle mines the most out of his limited resources via strong characterization and powerful performances from his two leads, Connor Paolo and Nick Damici. The direction is assured, and Mickles ability to maintain a brooding atmosphere - thanks in no small part to Jeff Graces fantastic score and Ryan Samuls crisp cinematography - really helps Stake Land stand apart from other low-budget post-apocalyptic monster movies (of which there are many). Its a unique take on the vampire mythos, with more in common with The Walking Dead than Dracula, and is well worth checking out.

John D. Hancocks psychological horror film Let's Scare Jessica to Death revolves around Jessica (Zohra Lampert), a troubled woman who has recently been released from a psychiatric institution and moves to a secluded farmhouse in rural Connecticut with her husband Duncan (Barton Heyman) and their friend Woody (Kevin O'Connor). But as they settle into their new home, Jessica begins to feel something is wrong, especially after her encounter with a mysterious woman named Emily (Mariclare Costello), who may very well be a vampire.

Initially conceived by writer Lee Kalcheim as a satirical horror film about a group of hippies preyed upon by a monster in a lake, Hancock opted to make a more straight-forward horror film once signing on, inspired specifically by such classics as The Turn of the Screw and The Haunting of Hill House. Hancock wanted to center the screenplay on a protagonist whose credibility could be questioned by the audience. The result is an atmospheric and unsettling vampire film that also doubles as a ghost story. If Lets Scare Jessica to Death isnt on your watchlist, its time to rectify that immediately.

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Obscure Vampire Movies You've Probably Never Heard Of - MovieWeb

Blooper Patrol Settles the Score, by Rob Kyff – Creators Syndicate

Eagle-eyed members of the Word Guy Blooper Patrol have detected a score of linguistic blunders in newspapers and magazines. Can you spot the blots and correct them?

1. "Rather than rant about injustice, reign in your emotions." Be the monarch of your passions! 2. "Climactic differences made sharing of technology very difficult." 3. "Both sides sited previous court rulings." 4. "Everyone waited with baited breath." Were they fish?

5. "To bowlderize Shakespeare a little bit..." Censor the Bard's gutter ball language? 6. "He alluded police by fleeing into the woods." As he fled, did he cite Javert and Barney Fife? 7. "The doctor was pedaling bad Covid advice." Was he riding a bicycle at the time? 8. "Rouge financier may need public defender." To help him "make up" an alibi?

9. "Local teams fair well." Showing good sportsmanship, no doubt. 10. "You have a tough road to hoe." Asphalt is hard! 11. "Thank you for a delightful story with an O'Henry ending." Never realized he was Irish! 12. "She had to fill out a sheath of forms." Was a cover up involved?

13. "Russell's trademark was her long main of voluptuous curls." And the secondary curls weren't bad either. 14. "It's something that has fallen by the waistside." A dieting plan perhaps? 15. "This statement does not tow the party line." 16. By confessing, he's hoping for ablution. A session on the ducking stool?

17. "Today is an opportunity to tell a risky joke or flirt with someone." 18. "(The plan) is to keep the wires taunt in hot weather, but slack when they contract in cold weather." 19. "One sage noted that idleness leads to mental illness and immortality." Which explains why I do nothing all day. 20. "It's taken three years to assess the human toll extracted in the first year of the novel coronavirus pandemic."

Corrections:

1. rein in 2. climatic differences 3. cited 4. bated breath 5. bowdlerize Shakespeare 6. eluded police 7. peddling 8. rogue financier 9. fare well 10. tough row to hoe 11. O. Henry 12. sheaf of forms 13. long mane 14. by the wayside 15. toe the party line 16. absolution 17. risque jokes 18. taut 19. immorality 20. human toll exacted

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Connecticut, invites your language sightings. His book, "Mark My Words," is available for $9.99 on Amazon.com. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via email to [emailprotected] or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.

Photo credit: Federico Giampieri at Unsplash

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Blooper Patrol Settles the Score, by Rob Kyff - Creators Syndicate

AI as Refashioned Religion – Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence

You can see it in the discourse surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) over the last year: AI is going to change everything. Some think it’s going to do this for the better. Others think it’s a technological handmaiden for world destruction if its programming goes awry or worse: AI becomes self-determining and sentient.

An insightful article at Vox by Sigal Samuel considers this doomsday/salvific kind of rhetoric and points out that AI developers sound a whole lot like religious priests, prophesying doom, promising salvation, warning the populace to heed the coming armageddon. He writes,

These technologists propose cheating death by uploading our minds to the cloud, where we can live digitally for all eternity. They talk about AI as a decision-making agent that can judge with mathematical certainty whats optimal and whats not. And they envision artificial general intelligence (AGI) a hypothetical system that can match human problem-solving abilities across many domains as an endeavor that guarantees human salvation if it goes well, even as it spells doom if it goes badly.

Samuel argues that Christianity, particularly medieval Catholicism, saw technological innovation as a good that should be pursued in keeping with man’s reflection of the Divine as a “maker.” In addition, when Darwin came along preaching his theory of evolution via natural selection, not all religious believers cried foul. In fact, some embraced the theory and incorporated it into a broader notion of “cosmic evolution.” Such people included Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a French Jesuit who

believed that human evolution, nudged along with tech, was actually the vehicle for bringing about the kingdom of God, and that the melding of humans and machines would lead to an explosion of intelligence, which he dubbed the omega point. Our consciousness would become a state of super-consciousness where we merge with the divine and become a new species.

Such radical utopian hopes for the human species sound equivalent to today’s transhumanists, who purport that AI will aid us in entering into a post-human future. Samuel’s point, which he argues compellingly, is that such ideas have so-called “religious” roots. I put religious in quotations marks, since orthodox Christian teaching would hold transhumanism in distrust. For instance, Wesley J. Smith, frequent contributor here at Mind Matters,wrote in First Thingslast year that Christianity and transhumanism shouldn’t be melded. They are contradicting worldviews. Smith writes,

First principles matter, and those of transhumanism and Christianity could not be more contradictory. Transhumanism is materialistic. Christianity is theistic. Transhumanism is utopian. Christianity sees the fallen world realistically. Transhumanism perceives immortality as something that can be achieved by men. Christianity identifies eternal salvation as the mercy of a loving God. Its eschatology focuses on Gods promises, not upon advanced scientific applications. 

As we’ve noted here many times, AI’s greatest threat may not be its sophistication, but our own over-reliance on it. As a technology, it has its uses and benefits. As a religion, it fails.

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AI as Refashioned Religion - Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence