Beyond Artificial Intelligence

Get out of here!

Some very wealthy people, in their infinite wisdom, believe that humans no longer matter. They have visions of grandeur in which Artificial Intelligence has resolved so many of their challenges that it can totally replace humans. It is not difficult to see this when we observe how the well-to-do have no problem taking away necessary food, healthcare, and eliminating an entire workforce with the click of a mouse. They can eliminate salaries, sick time, retirement benefits, and healthcare benefits with no remorse. They can now commandeer the nation’s wealth exclusively for themselves. However, there are unforeseen problems in these assertions.

Problems

There are many problems associated with eliminating humans from the workforce. Although AI can increase production efficiency significantly, consumer demand will diminish. Humans who once performed the duties replaced by AI will no longer function as consumers of the products being produced. They will have less money with which to make purchases.

AI data centers also require enormous amounts of energy and water to exist. Since humans also require energy and water, AI producers will always be in competition with humans for these resources. When we consider the pollution created by AI data centers, at some point AI may not be as attractive as some believe.

Humans vs. God

Can human beings create devices, gadgets, and gizmos more effective than what God can create? Those who possess an abundance of knowledge may be lacking in wisdom. Wise people understand that God is omnipresent—the first and the last.

Because many are so tethered to the physical dimension, they are bereft of wisdom concerning other dimensions. They have not drunk from bitter cups that forced them to live in their minds. They have not been driven into gas chambers, had their land taken away, lived in bondage, or endured sordid persecution and long suffering for many seasons.

It is obvious that we are now living in an age where Artificial Intelligence is in vogue. AI can perform many—if not most—physical tasks that human beings can perform. Notice that I said physical tasks. But what about the mental and the spiritual? Can Artificial Intelligence mimic things not seen through physical prisms? Let us examine this premise.

To be fair in our assessments, we must consider other dimensions. Beyond the physical dimension, there are mental and spiritual dimensions with which humans are familiar. These dimensions are less familiar to those who have not been forced to engage them. Hardship, death, financial struggle, sickness, and similar trials force humans to find exit strategies—to reside in dimensions other than the physical.

How do I know these things? I did not acquire this wisdom from colleges or universities in the physical realm. I obtained it from what I call The University of Hard Knocks. This university exists only in my mind, formed not only from the many seasons I have personally endured, but also from seasons experienced by my ancestors and passed down through my genetic makeup.

If we believe that God knows best, then we should also believe that God allows things to occur for specific reasons. If one has faith in God’s wisdom, then it should not be difficult to believe that humans possess the capacity to mentally and spiritually control AI—hands down. This is a blessing from the Almighty. God created humans. Humans created AI.

Things Seen vs. Things Not Seen

Most people familiar with religions and belief systems have encountered scriptures or inscriptions—whether on scrolls, papyrus, walls, or stone—concerning faith versus sight, or things experienced beyond the senses. Most religions provide us with the means to envision realities beyond what we can see with our eyes, smell with our noses, hear with our ears, taste with our tongues, or feel with our skin.

This is not unusual. Clearly, these realms we are encouraged to engage through faith must be important. Jesus asked God why he must drink from the cup before his crucifixion. Later, he understood that it was God’s sublime will.

Does Long-Suffering Produce Wisdom?

As a young child, I believed everything my parents told me. My parents were not wealthy. Their parents were not wealthy or successful by physical standards either. They bore the marks of physical oppression for many seasons. However, those experiences gave them strength and resilience.

As a young man, I believed I could move forward without the wisdom of my elders. After living through a few more seasons, I began to realize that most of what I had been told as a child was true. This led me to believe that, by nature, humans attempt to provide accurate guidance to their children for their safety and well-being.

I wondered, however, about people who have never experienced hardship. Do they provide their children with information for success? I must say that this is also true of people who have been successful because they were able to avoid hardship, humiliation, and long suffering. They teach their children what they have learned so their children may also succeed—regardless of how corrupt or harmful their actions may have been to others. I suppose this is the nature of the beast.

Blessings in Disguise

Speaking of drinking from cups, how many people do you think—those gassed in Hitler’s chambers, burned at the stake as witches, stripped of their land, held in bondage for hundreds of years, or forced to walk the Trail of Tears—asked God the same question: “Why must I drink from this cup?” Like Jesus, they had no choice. It was God’s will.

Some may ask, Where is the goodness?  Perhaps it is time to observe God’s goodness differently. Maybe it required something much larger than what those who were humiliated and tortured could perceive in the physical realm. Perhaps the mental and spiritual realms are ongoing—or everlasting.

It is remarkable how some humans appear to be replicas of their ancestors in both appearance and mindset. Physical science has proven that humans inherit the genetic makeup of their ancestors. Do ancestors live on through them? Perhaps only in small measure.

If humans inherit the physical traits of their ancestors, is it unreasonable to assume they may also inherit aspects of their mentality and spirituality? Often, all that is required is exposure to current events or statements that trigger ancestral memories embedded in the mind.

Ancestral Wisdom

Do the mental and spiritual dimensions possess energy, as does the physical dimension? Physics tells us that physical things require energy. Is the same true for mental and spiritual realms? How could we know? Unlike the physical dimension, the mental and spiritual dimensions are unseen.

This should give us hope. Why? If things seen are temporary, things unseen are everlasting, and things seen originate from things that do not appear, then we have the cow by the tail—we have beaten the beater.

Has the Hunter Been Captured by the Game?

If what I have said thus far is true, then our AI challenge has already been resolved by nature—or by God, if you prefer. Those who endured ancestral hardship, humiliation, torture, and long suffering may be the very ones destined to deliver us from this threat. They possess the mental acuity required to subdue the Artificial Intelligence of the physical realm. They may be the ones chosen by God to lead us at this critical juncture. Perhaps all that is required is for us to think deeply—to know ourselves and understand from whence we come.

Who knows?

Just John