John Lennox is human. As soon as the worlds most recognisable Oxford Professor of Mathematics smiles at me from his UK study via video link, he is apologising for his need to duck off to the bathroom. His immediate physical need arises from not being able to go beforehand, having just finished a one-hour online Q & A session about his newest book, 2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity. Not to be confused with the other book Lennox already put out in 2020 Where is God in a Coronavirus World? or the movie about him to be released later this year.
Tinkering with human beings those ideas interested me. John Lennox
Lennoxs toilet break is an unexpectedly fitting introduction to our conversation about his investigation of artificial intelligence (AI) and what it means for what it means to be human. Riffing on the title of English author George Orwells dystopic novel 1984, 2084 is Lennoxs eloquent and succinct attempt to demystify AI, separate science fiction from science fact, and investigate the ethical and theological questions raised.
But lets cut to the chase of your future-looking book, human. John Lennox, what will the year 2084 be like for people and their intelligent designs? I thought somebody would start with that question, but youre the first interviewer to do it, chuckles Lennox who has been a leading academic Christian in the public square for more than a decade.
Rising to international prominence through viral video debates with new atheist royalty such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Peter Singer, Lennox also has written many books at the intersection between Christian faith and the philosophy of scientific endeavour and progress.
The whole point is to take off from Orwells book 1984, which gave the English language things like big brother and thoughtcrime. There are aspects of artificial intelligence now that actually are fulfilling the role [from] Orwells 1984.
I wasnt writing the book to tell people whats going to happen in 2084 [but] to tell them to think about what might happen in 2084 or whats liable to happen, because of the developments we already have.
Lennox came to see the need to evaluate the course of artificial intelligence after a London church approached him, several years ago, to speak about how the Book of Genesis relates with AI. Lennox initially declined but was soon intrigued by considering what humanity being made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26) means to the rising tide of artificial intelligence. Since his teenage years in homeland Northern Ireland, Lennox has been interested in big questions such as where does meaning come from and what is the significance of humans in a universe created by God?
My interest was [also] sparked a long time ago by two C.S. Lewis books The Abolition of Man, and the third of his science-fiction book series, That Hideous Strength. Lewis was prescient; he had ideas of, basically, what we now call transhumanism. Those interested me the ideas of tinkering with the germ line, as we would now call it, and tinkering with human beings and producing not humans, but artefacts.
That intrigued me as to where this stuff was going.
At the start of 2084, Lennox admits hes not an AI expert. As an interested and analytical onlooker, he distills where AI is at and might be going, including explaining its two key forms Narrow Artificial Intelligence and Artificial General Intelligence. The former refers to any computer system which can do one thing superbly well that normally takes human intelligence to do; the latter is the transhuman quest for superintelligence, either by enhancing human beings or by creating a humanoid form where, for example, the contents of a human mind could be uploaded. Or much, much more.
Lennox shares what he perceives as positive developments in AI, from a smartwatch that can recognise seizures to online language translators, and algorithms which digitally assist with our daily tasks or needs. He also articulates negatives, flowing mainly from the ethical issues arising from AI. Lennox wonders how often you or I have stopped to realise we carry a portable tracking device with us our smartphone and where our personal data ends up (surveillance capitalism, as Harvard Professor Shoshana Zuboff describes it). What about the human job losses caused by improved artificial intelligence? Or the choice a self-driving car might have to make between crashing into an elderly lady crossing the road or avoiding her but hitting children on the footpath?
People are afraid to say what they really believe about morality. John Lennox
Lennox agrees there is a common view that technological developments always equal positive progress for humanity even though we experience the opposite (such as how advanced warfare or internet access can display the worst in us). Much of his book, 2084, is dedicated to highlighting how artificial intelligence itself is an amoral creation by humans, with moral issues inevitably arising from the real human input into them.
Artificial intelligence is not intelligent at all. It simulates intelligence the word artificial means that the output normally requires human intelligence but in this system, the only intelligence involved which is vastly important is the intelligence of the designers and programmers.
Technological progress is not the same as moral progress; the difficulty is that technology outpaces ethics, says Lennox. So theres an ethical void, which has been dramatically increased by the lack of a common worldview which, for centuries, was Christian in the West, but now were all over the place. And people are afraid to say what they really believe about morality. Thats an absolute tragedy, which is one of the reasons that I like talking about Genesis.
Convinced of the ongoing relevance of the image of God to defining human value and meaning, Lennox also wanted to talk about several popular books anchored in aspects of AI. So much so that Lennox uses bestselling author Dan Browns Origin, as well as Israeli historian Yuval Noah Hararis acclaimed Sapiens and Homo Deus, as structural devices for 2084s points.
Lennox doesnt flinch at being asked if weighing in on an AI novel by controversial and wildly successful writer of The Da Vinci Code was a cheap shot Im interested in what influences millions of people, he explains.
Lennox adds that Hararis input was vital to being able to engage seriously with Browns novel about an AI visionary seeking to scientifically reveal where we came from and where we are going. Hararis books take a more robust, history-based approach to those key questions; History began when humans invented gods and will end when humans become gods, declares Harari.
A superintelligent human already exists. John Lennox
Notably, Homo Deuss advocacy of transhumanism and seeking immortality stirred Lennox at his Christian core. While Lennox doesnt believe Hararis ambition for humans to be able to create actual humans can be achieved Until we know what consciousness is, all talk of that type is pure hype and pure science fiction. We dont know what it is. We havent an idea he was pleasantly surprised to discover how inspired he was by some of what transhumanists seek.
The thing that really turned the corner for me, thinking the book was worth writing, was a sudden and immediate thought that the transhumanist program is too late and its too little because a superintelligent human already exists, says Lennox, alluding to divine man Jesus.
The whole movement of transhumanism assumes were progressing towards [becoming like a god] when actually the movement we ought to be thinking about is the opposite of God becoming man, and providing a basis for a way we could answer Hararis number one problem. The problem of physical death to which the answer is resurrection, not constructing an artificial intelligence
Seeing that there was so much in the transhumanist agenda that really was shadows of the Christian message, I thought Aha, heres a way that I can put Christianity in, perhaps, a rather different way and bring inthings that people normally dont ever do writing a book [about AI].
See the article here:
Hi John. Will artificial intelligence replace humanity by 2084? - Eternity News
- Hidden In Plain Sight 4 Movies That Expose The Globalist ... - December 8th, 2016 [December 8th, 2016]
- WHAT IS TRANSHUMANISM? - Nick Bostrom - December 10th, 2016 [December 10th, 2016]
- Transhumanism | Foreign Policy - December 10th, 2016 [December 10th, 2016]
- Transhumanism in fiction - Wikipedia - December 23rd, 2016 [December 23rd, 2016]
- Transhumanism | Bioethics.com - January 3rd, 2017 [January 3rd, 2017]
- Trexit?: Transnationalism and Transhumanism and why They ... - January 13th, 2017 [January 13th, 2017]
- Sociologist: 'Capitalism 2.0' about to slay liberalism's sacred cow - WND.com - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- Zoltan Istvan on transhumanism, politics and why the human body has to go - New Atlas - February 22nd, 2017 [February 22nd, 2017]
- Buddhism and Transhumanism - Lankaweb - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- 'To Be A Machine' Digs Into The Meaning Of Humanity - WPSU - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- Touring transhumanism 'To Be a Machine' - Maine Edge - March 2nd, 2017 [March 2nd, 2017]
- Transhumanism Conference at Samford University - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]
- The Reality Principle - Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies - March 11th, 2017 [March 11th, 2017]
- Transhumanism: The World's Most Dangerous Idea? - March 11th, 2017 [March 11th, 2017]
- Transhumanism Is Just Fancy Sex-Shaming And Self-Loathing - The Federalist - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- 4 life-changing emerging technologies to get excited about - Born2Invest - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- The body electric - Arkansas Times - June 8th, 2017 [June 8th, 2017]
- Peter Thiel is Funding the Comeback of the Woolly Mammoth - Inverse - June 21st, 2017 [June 21st, 2017]
- Futuristic Thriller State of Mind Gets 15 Minutes of New Gameplay Footage - DualShockers - June 21st, 2017 [June 21st, 2017]
- Little Atoms at Wilderness - Little Atoms - June 29th, 2017 [June 29th, 2017]
- Review: Poem 88's Correspondences series brings us back to balance - ArtsATL - July 7th, 2017 [July 7th, 2017]
- Putting Infants Down Like Dogs - First Things - July 22nd, 2017 [July 22nd, 2017]
- Fringe movements key to changing the world - Winnipeg Free Press - July 22nd, 2017 [July 22nd, 2017]
- Luton hate crime probe over St Thomas's church graffiti - BBC News - July 26th, 2017 [July 26th, 2017]
- The MetroSpiritual: Creating super-humans through Transhumanism is becoming a reality - New York Daily News - July 29th, 2017 [July 29th, 2017]
- How the death of EDM brought pop music one step closer to eternal life - Washington Post - August 4th, 2017 [August 4th, 2017]
- Pop music moves a step closer to eternal life - The Columbian - August 5th, 2017 [August 5th, 2017]
- TRICOAST ENTERTAINMENT RELEASES FIRST ... - Digital Journal - Digital Journal - August 9th, 2017 [August 9th, 2017]
- Transhumanism Is Not Libertarian, It's an Abomination - The American Conservative - August 22nd, 2017 [August 22nd, 2017]
- Bloodborne, Transhumanism and Cosmic Cyberpunk - Kotaku UK (blog) - August 25th, 2017 [August 25th, 2017]
- Hidden In Plain Sight - 4 Movies That Expose The Globalist ... - March 23rd, 2018 [March 23rd, 2018]
- Transhumanism Foreign Policy - May 8th, 2018 [May 8th, 2018]
- Transhumanism - Catholicism.org - May 12th, 2018 [May 12th, 2018]
- Transhumanism | social and philosophical movement ... - May 21st, 2018 [May 21st, 2018]
- Transhumanism Is Despair Its an Ersatz Version of ... - May 21st, 2018 [May 21st, 2018]
- Transhumanism: Genetic Engineering of Man - the New ... - July 6th, 2018 [July 6th, 2018]
- Transhumanism Has Opened the Gates of Hell-Steve Quayle and ... - July 16th, 2018 [July 16th, 2018]
- Transhumanism by Dorian Mays on Prezi - July 16th, 2018 [July 16th, 2018]
- What is Mormon Transhumanism? And is it Mormon? | Interpreter ... - July 16th, 2018 [July 16th, 2018]
- Transhumanism: The Anti-Human Singularity Agenda - July 16th, 2018 [July 16th, 2018]
- TRANSHUMANISM Feral House - July 16th, 2018 [July 16th, 2018]
- Transhumanism - H+Pedia - hpluspedia.org - July 16th, 2018 [July 16th, 2018]
- Transhumanism - Mercurial Essays - July 16th, 2018 [July 16th, 2018]
- Transhumanism: The History of a Dangerous Idea: David ... - November 8th, 2018 [November 8th, 2018]
- Transhumanism - reddit - December 28th, 2018 [December 28th, 2018]
- Transhumanism | Future | FANDOM powered by Wikia - February 8th, 2019 [February 8th, 2019]
- transhumanism | Definition, Origins, Characteristics, & Facts ... - February 8th, 2019 [February 8th, 2019]
- Elevating the Human Condition - Humanity+ What does it mean ... - June 3rd, 2019 [June 3rd, 2019]
- What is Transhumanism? - GenSix Productions - June 3rd, 2019 [June 3rd, 2019]
- Transhumanism - RationalWiki - June 3rd, 2019 [June 3rd, 2019]
- Transhumanism Is TemptingUntil You Remember Inspector Gadget ... - June 3rd, 2019 [June 3rd, 2019]
- Transhumanism | Conspiracy School - June 3rd, 2019 [June 3rd, 2019]
- Transhumanism - Britannica.com - June 3rd, 2019 [June 3rd, 2019]
- Seattle faith groups reckon with AI and what it means to be truly human - Seattle Times - November 12th, 2019 [November 12th, 2019]
- The 2010s were the decade of trans - The Spectator USA - December 21st, 2019 [December 21st, 2019]
- Being alive: Institut Franais presents 'The Night of Ideas' - Daily Sabah - January 30th, 2020 [January 30th, 2020]
- Sleeve Into Altered Carbon: The Role Playing Game - Nerdist - March 17th, 2020 [March 17th, 2020]
- Zoltan Istvan: The Transhumanist Candidate - Roads and Kingdoms - March 17th, 2020 [March 17th, 2020]
- Transhumanism: Pros and Cons - iGyaan - March 31st, 2020 [March 31st, 2020]
- What is transhumanism, or, what does it mean to be human ... - March 31st, 2020 [March 31st, 2020]
- What is transhumanism? | CARM.org - March 31st, 2020 [March 31st, 2020]
- Meet Ai-Da, the worlds first AI artist, who is almost human - Dazed - April 3rd, 2020 [April 3rd, 2020]
- Cosmodeism: Prologue to a Theology of Transhumanism - Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies - April 3rd, 2020 [April 3rd, 2020]
- Whats the best way to prepare for the apocalypse? Dont ask these guys - Telegraph.co.uk - April 23rd, 2020 [April 23rd, 2020]
- The benefits and risks of AI and post-human life - Independent Australia - April 26th, 2020 [April 26th, 2020]
- Silicon Valley, the start-up incarnation 4/5. Palmer Luckey, the geek who needed to make sure the army supremacy of the West - Pledge Times - August 5th, 2020 [August 5th, 2020]
- Transhumanism: The cyborgs and biohackers redefining ... - August 10th, 2020 [August 10th, 2020]
- The Honorable Dr. Dale Layman, Founder of Robowatch, LLC, is Recognized as the 2020 Humanitarian of the Year by Top 100 Registry, Inc. - IT News... - September 4th, 2020 [September 4th, 2020]
- To be a Machine review: Experimental format well-suited to plays core theme - The Irish Times - October 8th, 2020 [October 8th, 2020]
- Dublin Theatre Festival reviews: The Great Hunger, and To Be A Machine - Irish Examiner - October 8th, 2020 [October 8th, 2020]
- Fact check: UK deaths linked to COVID-19 did not stop in June - Reuters - December 5th, 2020 [December 5th, 2020]
- transhumanism | Definition, Origins, Characteristics ... - December 5th, 2020 [December 5th, 2020]
- What is Transhumanism? - December 5th, 2020 [December 5th, 2020]
- Is Biohacking The Future Of Skincare? - British Vogue - December 28th, 2020 [December 28th, 2020]
- Cyberpunk And GTA 2-Inspired "Glitchpunk" Enters Early Access This Year - TheGamer - February 4th, 2021 [February 4th, 2021]
- 'Glitchpunk' will see players take to the neon streets from a top-down view - NME - February 4th, 2021 [February 4th, 2021]
- Into The Darkness Is A Promising VR Adventure With Boneworks-Like Physics - UploadVR - February 4th, 2021 [February 4th, 2021]
- A Closer Look at the AI Hype Machine: Who Really Benefits? - Common Dreams - February 4th, 2021 [February 4th, 2021]
- The Chronicles of Covid, or why we must kill the Great Reset Witch - The Conservative Woman - February 10th, 2021 [February 10th, 2021]
- The Matrix Resurrections: The Studio Is Making Us Do This! - Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence - December 27th, 2021 [December 27th, 2021]