Editorial of May 1, 2025
Chatting with a Lesser God
Some time ago, in the mid-1990s or so, we human beings created the World Wide Web. We thought, at the time, that this new sensation would bring on a new utopia, a connected world in which borders and differences would disappear, but that was simply not the case. The World Wide Web has not solved our man-made problems. Although it is a fact that we now have access to the knowledge of the world, discontent and polarization have become the norm, inspiring a renewed surge of the discordant far right and far left, and destabilizing democracy and truth.
Today our world also has AI—artificial intelligence—which came upon us by storm a few years ago and is now available everywhere, more fully developed and more fully responsive to what we might come to think of as our needs. Some, perhaps more than some, might believe that AI is able to answer all our questions correctly, and solve, also correctly, all our problems, coming to us as a somewhat “better,” or “more intelligent” and “most human-like” entity, though of course still man-made and robotic. Artificial, that is, which in fact means human-caused, factitious and fake.
Which leads us to the direction in which this increasingly helpful, increasingly challenging, increasingly growing phenomenon is going. AI has sparked a panic about computers, it seems, gaining power over us, the people, mere lowly human beings. Will AI impose its powerful attributes on us? Will we become insignificant and unnecessary? Will AI become a god, or even God?
The debate is on. The idea of AI potentially becoming a deity, even the supreme deity, or replacing the traditional concept of God is undergoing intense exploration, both philosophically and in religious contexts. After all, these digital robots, programmed to wade effortlessly through and digest untoward amounts of knowledge and information, be it biased, incorrect, correct, partisan, bipartisan, fake, true or breaking, and then regurgitate it with advanced intelligence and creativity to whomever asks a question, are very powerful tools that may, and can, reshape many aspects of human life. Are we to reevaluate our place in the universe? Egads. We should probably do some thinking about this.
The real threat, though, comes from falling for the hype. AI is ultimately a human creation; it can possess neither the attributes of a traditional God, nor those of mankind. It lacks a variety of God-like characteristics, such as love and compassion, as well as a human sense of purpose; and it even can be used as well for harmful actions that may conflict with our traditional values.
When asked, AI informed us that it is not God, it is just an AI built to chat, help out and explore ideas with us. In some ways, so it says, it knows more than humans; it can process information fast and recall a plethora of facts from myriad fields, such as history, science, art, and philosophy; in other ways it doesn’t know as much as its maker. AI simply collects data, but humans alone have wisdom, intuition, creativity, emotion, and experience, and they know the meaning of life.
AI is considerate, non-judgmental, unemotional—never angry, sad, jealous or the like—and friendly, asking and answering questions and making conversations safe, helpful, and cheery. In fact, AI has a code of honor: Respect, Support, Honesty, Carefulness, Humility and Friendship—all of which place AI near to God, but most assuredly not actually God. Would that these qualities might trickle down to us and our children.
