Do you trust this computer? (AI documentary)

I share many of the same concerns, but I come from a slightly different angle than you do. "Machine over man" worries me, but what really worries me most of all is the utopianism that seems to greet so much technological change these days. To hear Silicon Valley and a lot of the Internet talk, you'd think that once we have virtual reality, augmented reality, autonomous cars, etc, everything will be perfect and wonderful.

But that's not the way the world works. We could have self-driving cars and VR tomorrow, and tomorrow we'll still have poverty, we'll still have political unrest, we'll still have wars. Technology isn't a magic macguffin that's miraculously going to solve all of society's problems. We're not going to wake up one day, have cybernetics (or whatever else) and everything will suddenly be perfect.

If we want to see change in the world, it has to start with us. We have to be the change we want to see in the world. I wish more of the Internet understood this. Change doesn't come from sitting around and waiting for technology to be our "savior". We have to fight for it, clamor for it. Technology can help us get there, but it's ultimately up for us - not cheap and easy shortcuts like cybernetics, or self-driving cars, or whatever else Silicon Valley creates.
Ringo

Ringo84 said:

"Machine over man" worries me

Click to expand...

Was that the theme of the Charlie Chaplin movie: "modern times"?

paul1149 said in post #1:

. . . no matter what we do, a fate is coming upon us with a ferocity no one will be able to stop . . .

Click to expand...

Indeed.

For materialist humans desiring to create a machine-consciousness could merely result in their own slavery to that machine. That is, the desire to expand artificial intelligence through "machine learning" in the pursuit of more and more profits by major internet and computer corporations, with their increasingly "smart assistants", could ultimately result in the slavery of all of mankind to a single, seemingly-omniscient machine.

And this enslaving machine-intelligence having begun its development in the human pursuit of corporate profits will only be further proof that:

1 Timothy 6:10 . . . the love of money is the root of all evil . . .

paul1149 said in post #1:

We have created our masterpiece, intelligent machines made in our image, and now they are poised to eclipse us.

Click to expand...

Regarding "made in our image", that brought to mind the Biblical prophecy regarding the future "image of the beast" (Revelation 13:15), which could be an android image of the future Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of the beast), which the Antichrist's False Prophet (of Revelation 13:11-16, Revelation 19:20) could order to be made after the Antichrist receives a terrible head wound (Revelation 13:3,14b). For this injury could leave the Antichrist's facial and bodily appearance permanently marred, and could render him unable to speak clearly, like someone after a bad stroke, so that the Antichrist will not want to ever appear or speak in public again.

Did you ever see that movie "Dave"? It had a President who was in a coma, so his handlers found a regular guy who looked exactly like the President, and had him be a public stand-in for the President. He was able to speak just like the President did. It could be like that with the Antichrist's image. It could be the Antichrist's "Dave", his double, which appears and speaks (Revelation 13:15) before the world instead of his wounded self. But instead of letting people think that the Antichrist's android image is the Antichrist himself, the False Prophet could tell people from the beginning that the image is not the Antichrist himself, but still fully represents him.

In Revelation 13:15, the original Greek word translated as "life", or "breath" (pneuma: G4151), can mean "spirit", in the sense of consciousness (1 Corinthians 2:11a, Luke 1:47), so that the android could appear to have a spirit, to have consciousness. The way that this could be achieved would be through the android having wireless connections to huge banks of neural-network supercomputers running highly advanced artificial intelligence software. The False Prophet could claim that the Antichrist's consciousness dwells within the android by means of the neural networks having been imprinted with the Antichrist's own brain patterns. But this could be a lie, in that the android will not actually have the Antichrist's consciousness, or any true consciousness, but will only appear to have consciousness, by its being able to pass even the most stringent Turing Test. This is a test whereby one speaks with a computer and cannot tell whether or not it has consciousness, because all of its answers are the same as if it had consciousness.

But the android's "consciousness" could appear far more advanced than any human's. For it could have access to huge databases containing every fact known to man, so that the android will appear omniscient. In this way, it could convince the world that it is not just a machine, but a material incarnation, a machine avatar, of the true God, a literal "deus ex machina", a literal "God from a machine". And this machine "God" could boast not only of his mental powers, but also of his physical powers. For his android body could be extremely strong. And he could boast of the "immortality" of his body, which could be made of titanium covered with some practically everlasting flesh-like silicone. People could be completely awestruck by his (what they could call) "omniscient wisdom, his strength, his indestructibility". They could consider him more than worthy of worship by (in their words) "mere humanity, which is so mentally and physically limited, made out of mere flesh and blood, which is so weak and so mortal". The unsaved world will actually worship the Antichrist's image (Revelation 13:15), just as it will actually worship Lucifer (Satan, the dragon) and the Antichrist (Revelation 13:4,8, Revelation 12:9).

The Antichrist's image could be placed standing in the holy place (the inner sanctum) of a future, third Jewish temple in Jerusalem, so that the image will become the abomination of desolation (of Matthew 24:15, Daniel 11:31). And to make it easy for everyone in the world to see the Antichrist's image and worship it (Revelation 13:15), it could appear on every smartphone, tablet, laptop, PC, TV, GPS navigation system, and electronic billboard at set times each day. And to make it possible for everyone to interact with it personally, it could appear as a lifelike, computer-generated image on each individual's smartphone, speaking in and understanding each individual's language, conversing with each individual with personalized messages and responses devised by supercomputers running artificial intelligence and language software.

And it could discuss with them even the most intimate details of their lives. For it could have access to huge databases compiled by the Antichrist's worldwide intelligence, law enforcement, economic, and health agencies, databases containing all of the facts about everyone: who their family and friends are, where they live and work, who their neighbors and coworkers are, how much they make, what cars and properties they own and use, where they go, where they shop, what they buy, where they eat out, what shows and videos they watch, what they read, what they say, what they post on the internet, what their health problems are, etc., so that the Antichrist's image could seem to know everything about everyone.

And the worship of the image could be connected with a daily surveillance and subjugation of everyone. For the image's supercomputers could make his image automatically appear on everyone's smartphone at set times each day to be worshipped. And smartphones contain GPS chips which can be secretly pinged remotely in order to determine the exact location of the smartphones. So when the image appears on everyone's smartphone, the image's supercomputers could ping the GPS chip of everyone's smartphone and know exactly where everyone is.

Also, smartphones contain cameras and microphones which can be remotely opened secretly in order to see and hear what is going on around the smartphones at any time. So when the Antichrist's image appears on everyone's smartphone, the image's supercomputers could open the cameras and microphones of everyone's smartphone in order to determine what everyone is doing and saying. And the image could then demand that the individuals worship him as God, saying some set prayer of praise and adoration. And if any individual refuses, the image's supercomputers could detect his noncompliance and notify the nearest police officers of his exact location, and order the officers to arrest him for blasphemy and treason. He could then be given a chance to be "reformed" (in a brainwashing prison, or through physical torture, if necessary). But if he proves recalcitrant, he will be executed (Revelation 13:15) by being beheaded (Revelation 20:4).

The beheading process itself could be made into a televised and webcasted spectacle in order to serve not only as a dire warning to anyone thinking of refusing to worship the Antichrist's image, but also to serve as an amazingly-horrific entertainment for the masses, like how the ancient Romans made it an entertainment for the masses to gather them into the Colosseum in Rome and let them watch Christians being thrown to lions and devoured alive.

Huge beheading structures could be built by which twenty "traitors" could be beheaded at one time by one fall of one blade. The "traitors" could be bound in a row along an upright "U"-shaped device with a track for a large guillotine blade which could start-out in a resting position at the top of one side. The blade could be so massive and so sharp that when it is released it will easily slice down through ten necks on one side of the "U", and then continue on by its own momentum up the other side of the "U", shearing off another ten heads. This could all happen so quickly that it will appear as if all twenty heads are struck off almost in unison, followed immediately by twenty geysers of blood rushing out at the same time for all of the Antichrist's "faithful" to gawk at and cheer over in the comfort of their own homes before their televisions and computers.

Also, immediately after the show, at the site where it took place teams of surgeons could rush in to "harvest" all of the fresh organs and other body parts from the beheaded bodies to be used for transplants (beheading being the best way for a body to die if you want to harvest its parts). What is left of the bodies could then be stuffed into shipping containers, which, once full, could be painted black and stacked like stones into a gigantic "Black Pyramid of Death", which could eventually reach some thirty stories high and contain tens of millions of bodies. A huge plaque could be erected in front of the Pyramid which will read: "This is a monument to the shame of YHWH, who created everything to die". (Of course, the truth is that He didn't, for He created Adam and Eve immortal; it was not until they sinned that they became mortal: Genesis 2:17. And YHWH will restore immortality to Christians through Jesus Christ: Romans 6:23. Also, any such plaque would be hypocritical, for it will be the Antichrist who will have murdered the people entombed in the Pyramid, not YHWH. And so it will actually be a monument to how those who hate YHWH and his wisdom love death: Proverbs 8:36b.)

Regarding the worship of the Antichrist's image, in order to help foster a group dynamic, every neighborhood and village in the world could be helped to create a group worship center where everyone in that neighborhood or village will have to gather together at a set time each evening to bow down and prostrate himself or herself before a life-size, lifelike image of the Antichrist, which could be a computer-generated, animated, holographic or widescreen 3D HDTV image of him clothed in beautiful golden robes, and standing majestically before them (or sitting on a magnificent golden throne), and speaking computer-generated customized messages to them as a group.

This worship could be accompanied by the most beautiful symphonic music (cf. Daniel 3:5), or whatever is the most beautiful music to the local people, to help them (in the words of the Antichrist's propaganda machine) "Be uplifted into the true spirit of praise and worship of our Great Lord and Master. Praised be His Majestic Name forever and ever!", etc. And what with the wonderful music, and all of their fellow worshippers around them, and customized messages of encouragement spoken in a deep, soothing voice by a life-size, holographic or 3D HDTV image of the Antichrist to certain members of each "worship group", some people in each group could really get into the evening worship sessions, and even (in their words) "Truly feel the Living Presence of our loving God among us, loving us so tenderly, so personally! Oh, how I love Him! He is So Great!"

For example, as a worshipper named Mary, a housewife with two little children, is bowing down before the image of the Antichrist, he could speak forth to her: "Mary! Mary! My beloved handmaid! You are so precious to me, my love. You so faithfully take care of dear little Johnnie and Michelle, whom I have entrusted to you, that you might raise them up to become My servants and faithful worshippers, just as you are. How I love thee, my Mary. How I cherish thee, my precious dove!". And poor Mary could begin to cry with happiness over her dear Lord's kind words to her, not realizing that they are merely the concoction of an artificial-intelligence program running in a neural-network supercomputer down in the basement of some government building.

Also, the world's worship of the Antichrist's image (Revelation 13:15), no matter how blissful it may become for some people, and the world's worship of the Antichrist and Lucifer (Satan) the dragon (Revelation 13:4, Revelation 12:9), will last for less than four years (Revelation 13:5, Daniel 12:11-12) before Jesus Christ returns physically from heaven and completely defeats the Antichrist and Lucifer, and the Antichrist's False Prophet (Revelation 19:20 to 20:3), and Jesus then sets up His own, 1,000-year physical kingdom on the earth with the physically resurrected Church (Revelation 20:4-6, Revelation 5:10, Revelation 2:26-29).

Ringo84 said in post #2:

We could have self-driving cars and VR tomorrow, and tomorrow we'll still have poverty . . .

Click to expand...

Good point.

It brought to mind the Biblical Jubilee of Leviticus 25:10, which allows all people every fifty years to be set at liberty from being hired servants (Leviticus 25:40), such as wage slaves today; and to return free from all debts to their own plots of land, which they can then work in support of themselves and their families.

This is a wonderful idea, and should be put into practice today. For a future, world economic collapse (similar to, but much worse than, 2008's Great Recession) will be brought about by the continued, unsustainable debt loads of the world's (especially China's) corporate and central banks (in the form of bad loans), and by the unsustainable debt loads of the world's governments, corporations, and individuals. God knew that eternal, recycling debts (that is, borrowing or printing new money to pay off old debts) can only result, in the long term, in widespread economic ruin, due to eventual huge defaults or rampant inflation.

Also, the Jubilee idea prevents what we are seeing today: The unbelievable concentration of wealth and land ownership by only a relatively few people compared with the population of the planet. For example, Oxfam recently found that eight of the richest people in the world own more wealth than the 3.6 billion poorest people in the world. It is eternal debt, and the subsequent loss of land ownership, which cannot help but eventually result in wage slavery and inescapable poverty for 99% of the world's population. God knew this, and it cannot last.

Also, a good start to rectify the current, extreme situation would be to abolish all taxes such as payroll, sales, and income taxes, which hurt the poor (not to mention the middle class) the most; and replace all taxes with a 10% yearly and global wealth tax on people with more than a million dollars in wealth. This wealth tax will have to be global, or else the wealthy will simply move their wealth to tax havens with no wealth tax; just as even today, wealthy people can hide their wealth in offshore shell companies, and in bogus "trusts", such as in the Cook Islands. The money from the global wealth tax can then be distributed to the world's poor in the form of sufficient food, clothing, housing, water supplies, farm animals (compare Heifer International), crop seeds, farm tools, fruit trees, and land for everyone to be able to support himself by his own work on his own land (Micah 4:4).

paul1149 said:

I had several emotions while watching this documentary, and despite all the good technology has brought us, none of them were good. Most of all, I had a profound sense that someone beside man himself was in control of his destiny, and that no matter what we do, a fate is coming upon us with a ferocity no one will be able to stop, and with a rapidity no one can prepare for. We have created our masterpiece, intelligent machines made in our image, and now they are poised to eclipse us. We have leveraged not only our knowledge, but our flawed moral values onto a force greater than ourselves, and we will find ourselves at the mercy of its algorithms.

AI is going to be the most profound revolution the world has ever seen, and the millions of jobs it will take is only the beginning. What those lost jobs will do to lives, self-esteem, economies, and global politics, no one has even a beginning of an answer for, and yet it is right around the corner.

Click to expand...

It’s the mentality of some AI evangelists I find irritating at times, I recently read a book on Machine Learning produced by MIT. Very interesting, if there is anything alarming in it it would be the idea that deep thinking computers are/will be able to crunch so much data that we will simply be incapable of really understanding the conclusions they reach, not being able to grasp all of the variables involved. An extant example is given of the design of antenna for space exploration, the antennae designed by machine learning software work exceptionally well, but the human engineers involved don’t really understand why. That seems to suggest a move toward a HG Wells type scenario (without the Morlocks), where humans become increasingly effete and useless in any practical sense. Apart from that the annoying messages around increasing use of data for marketing etc, an idea the writer seemed to thing was ‘awesome’ that no-one will need to think about what they want to buy or consume or who to vote for because some AI generated ads will already be telling them what they want to spend their worker bee money on and whose lies to buy into, base on their previous ‘choices’.

Bible2+ said:

Also, smartphones contain cameras and microphones which can be remotely opened secretly in order to see and hear what is going on around the smartphones at any time.

Click to expand...

They would have to pay someone $25 an hour to watch and most people are not worth that sort of investment. They have to get a return on their investment to make it worth while. Most AI is used for advertising to sell you products and it is pretty easy to block.

joshua 1 9 said in post #9:

They would have to pay someone $25 an hour to watch . . .

Click to expand...

Not with computers. For they can already automatically transcribe speech, and describe the contents of an image. They can even identify who is in an image by facial recognition. No human is needed, and everything can be automatically stored in your "profile", or "dossier".

Also, regarding government snooping, humans would only come in if the transcription turns up dangerous keywords, or the image turns up dangerous individuals.

Also, even if nothing dangerous is detected, through computers the government can still automatically store in vast server farms everything it picks up, in case you become dangerous later, so that it will be able to "work back" to make connections regarding how you became dangerous, or how you disguised your intentions.

joshua 1 9 said in post #9:

They have to get a return on their investment to make it worth while.

Click to expand...

Not with the government. It spends untold billions snooping on people, with no economic return on investment. The return is "national security".

With regard to corporations, just ask Alexa what she knows about you by constantly listening in to everything said in your house.

Of course, she won't answer. She will just give that creepy laugh.

joshua 1 9 said:

Was that the theme of the Charlie Chaplin movie: "modern times"?

Click to expand...

I actually haven't seen that movie. I want to, since I've heard it's very good.
Ringo

Ringo84 said:

I actually haven't seen that movie. I want to, since I've heard it's very good.
Ringo

Click to expand...

Looks like it is free on youtube