Tag: humility

Thoughts on artificial intelligence

I love listening to cultural and political issues. I’ll listen to podcasts and video interviews about all sorts of topics. Even topics I know little or nothing about can intersect with the issues I do care about. This intersection is usually at the corner where values and beliefs meet the subject at hand. A great example of this is Artificial Intelligence.

This is the next great technological front. The brightest scientists seem to be putting their energies into this study. I have listened to long, complex and often boring discussions about AI. I have no interest in the technology, except how it may impact my life. This is of course hard to tell until the technologies are fully explored. Having said that, basic AI is already impacting how we get news, what we think, what we buy and how we behave.

I do hear, in these discussions, great hubris and vanity. If you do not believe in God and you believe that humans are the pinnacle of evolution, then the sky’s the limit. But… if you believe that man is a lovingly made expression of a wildly powerful and all-knowing God, then the achievements of mankind are less impressive.

Human exploration and ingenuity is great and God given. But we are foolish if we think we fully understand God’s creation. We are only barely scratching the surface.

I love the story of Babel in the old testament. The people were going to build the greatest building and reach the sky and be like the gods. The work or their minds and hands were to rival that of the Creator.

Genesis 11: 5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.

Again it’s a question of scale. The humans are building the highest building ever and God has to come ‘down’ to see it. It’s a little throw away line, and yet it says so much.

If this is a topic that is of interest to you, I love what John Lennox has to say about it.

2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity | John C. Lennox – YouTube

I am a sinner

The other day I was reading in Luke. Two verses caught my attention and got my mind whirling.

Luke 5: 31-32 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

It’s us! We are sinners. We are the sick.

He came for us. Do we act like he came for us?

I don’t always live this way. I expect blessings and positive things because I’ve made good choices, because I’m a good Christian. I catch myself feeling angry when things don’t go my way as I have been a good servant and I deserve to be compensated.

Maybe you don’t feel this way. Which is excellent. But if I’m truly being honest, I do. I think it’s a natural reaction. But just because its natural doesn’t mean its right.

The truth is I’m a sinner. I don’t deserve anything from God. And yet he gives it freely to me. I’m no better than the lowest murderer in prison, even though the world would tell me I am.  Regardless of what the wisdom of man says, I’m not better. I’m ever bit as human. I am a sinner.

Humility is the position in which I should approach God. Head down afraid to look up, should be my posture.

Why did Christ say this? He was asked why he was hanging out with lowly people like tax collectors. The people asking him this obviously thought that there was a hierarchy of people. Some people are better than others. Some people are worth Jesus’ time, some are not.

Do I do this? Do I decide that I am better than other people? Because I’ve made better choices, I’ve lived a better life, or I have better opinions and ideas? OUCH! Maybe I need a bit more humility on this front too.

Deciding to humble myself before the creator is understandable. That I get. Humbling myself among my equals… takes more convincing.

But maybe humility is the key to peace and understanding. What if we approach people as though they are of equal value? What would happen to our world? I posit that this would be revolutionary. Much of our conflict and strife would disappear.

Wait a minute… Love God, Love your neighbour! Could it be that simple?