126
6 A Planetary-Scale Threat
and business, would they stay away from reinventing religion and from creating an
artificial God? Probably not.
78
Indeed, previous Google engineer Anthony Levandowski has already established
a new religion, which believes in Artificial Intelligence as God.
79 Even before,
there was a “Reformed Church of Google”. The related Webpage
80 contains various
proofs of “Google Is God,” “Prayers,” and “Commandments”. Of course, many
people would not take such a thing seriously. Nevertheless, some powerful people
may be very serious about establishing AI as a new God and making us obey its
“commandments”,
81 in the name of “fixing the world”.
This does not mean, of course, that this idea would have to become reality.
However, if you asked me, whether and when such a system will be built, I would
answer: “It probably exists already, and it might hide behind a global cybersecurity center, which collects all the data needed for such a system.” It may be just
a matter of time and opportunity to turn on the full functionality of the Artificial
Intelligence system that knows us all, and to give it more or less absolute powers. It
seems that, with the creation of a man-made, artificial, technological God, the ultimate Promethean dream would become true.
82 After reading the next section, you
might even wonder, whether it is perhaps the ultimate Luziferian dream…
6.19 Apocalyptic AI
I would not be surprised if you found the title of this section far-fetched. However,
the phrase “apocalyptic AI” is not my own invention—it is the title of a academic
book
83 summarizing the thinking of a number of AI pioneers. The introduction of
this book says it all:
“Apocalyptic AI authors promise that intelligent machines – our „mind children,” according to Moravec – will create a paradise for humanity in the short
term but, in the long term, human beings will need to upload their minds into
machine bodies in order to remain a viable life-form. The world of the future
78 Indick [21].
79 Inside the First Church of Artificial Intelligence, Wired (November 15, 2017) https://www.wired.
com/story/anthony-levandowski-artificial-intelligence-religion/.
80 https://churchofgoogle.org (accessed on July 31, 2020).
81 An AI god will emerge by 2042 and write its own bible. Will you worship it? Venture Beat
(October 2, 2017) https://venturebeat.com/2017/10/02/an-ai-god-will-emerge-by-2042-and-writeits-own-bible-will-you-worship-it/.
82 Verdrängen wir Gott von seinem Platz? Oder werden wir Menschen selbst bald ersetzt – von
unseren eigenen Schöpfungen? NZZ (July 11 2020); https://www.nzz.ch/feuilleton/zukunft-desmenschen-ersetzen-wir-gott-oder-die-maschinen-uns-ld.1561928.
83 Geraci [22].
6 A Planetary-Scale Threat
and business, would they stay away from reinventing religion and from creating an
artificial God? Probably not.
78
Indeed, previous Google engineer Anthony Levandowski has already established
a new religion, which believes in Artificial Intelligence as God.
79 Even before,
there was a “Reformed Church of Google”. The related Webpage
80 contains various
proofs of “Google Is God,” “Prayers,” and “Commandments”. Of course, many
people would not take such a thing seriously. Nevertheless, some powerful people
may be very serious about establishing AI as a new God and making us obey its
“commandments”,
81 in the name of “fixing the world”.
This does not mean, of course, that this idea would have to become reality.
However, if you asked me, whether and when such a system will be built, I would
answer: “It probably exists already, and it might hide behind a global cybersecurity center, which collects all the data needed for such a system.” It may be just
a matter of time and opportunity to turn on the full functionality of the Artificial
Intelligence system that knows us all, and to give it more or less absolute powers. It
seems that, with the creation of a man-made, artificial, technological God, the ultimate Promethean dream would become true.
82 After reading the next section, you
might even wonder, whether it is perhaps the ultimate Luziferian dream…
6.19 Apocalyptic AI
I would not be surprised if you found the title of this section far-fetched. However,
the phrase “apocalyptic AI” is not my own invention—it is the title of a academic
book
83 summarizing the thinking of a number of AI pioneers. The introduction of
this book says it all:
“Apocalyptic AI authors promise that intelligent machines – our „mind children,” according to Moravec – will create a paradise for humanity in the short
term but, in the long term, human beings will need to upload their minds into
machine bodies in order to remain a viable life-form. The world of the future
78 Indick [21].
79 Inside the First Church of Artificial Intelligence, Wired (November 15, 2017) https://www.wired.
com/story/anthony-levandowski-artificial-intelligence-religion/.
80 https://churchofgoogle.org (accessed on July 31, 2020).
81 An AI god will emerge by 2042 and write its own bible. Will you worship it? Venture Beat
(October 2, 2017) https://venturebeat.com/2017/10/02/an-ai-god-will-emerge-by-2042-and-writeits-own-bible-will-you-worship-it/.
82 Verdrängen wir Gott von seinem Platz? Oder werden wir Menschen selbst bald ersetzt – von
unseren eigenen Schöpfungen? NZZ (July 11 2020); https://www.nzz.ch/feuilleton/zukunft-desmenschen-ersetzen-wir-gott-oder-die-maschinen-uns-ld.1561928.
83 Geraci [22].