Heart of Man

We are living in a world of artificial intelligence, but as we've seen - no such thing actually exists. At best, what we have is automated intelligence, which will always be no greater than the intelligence of its designer and the quality of its input. So it is, indeed, very limited. 

But then, we saw that there's not even really such a thing as human intelligence, for we, too, are simply creations of an intelligent designer. And much like we cannot put anything other than our own intelligence into the artificials that we are designing, neither can God bestow on us anything but His intelligence. So we are beings created in the intelligence of God, and that makes our intelligence HIS intelligence. At its core, anyway. (Of course, we do not have His intelligence to the extent that He has it; we are in His image, but we are not the fullness of His glory.)

What makes man, as a creature, fundamentally different than machines, as creations, is...heart. 

It's heart that gives us the ability to discern information, to decide between what is important and what is not, to consider the impact of one piece of data over another. It is heart that lets us know what is truly right because it is the only thing that is consistent with everything else that we know is right. Heart is the application of facts.

Facts are one thing, and they're important. To a degree. It's important to know, for example, that heat is dangerous to the skin.  It is another thing entirely to know that this fact should lead us to prevent our child from touching the hot stove. It's important to know, for another example, that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. It is another thing entirely to let this knowledge lead us to worship Him. (And plenty of Christians have problems crossing this chasm.) 

In other words, heart is the thing that puts knowledge into action and turns truth into love. 

We have not figured out how to automate that yet. And we probably never will. 

And even if we do, we'll run into the very same issue - whatever kind of "heart" we give to our automated intelligence will be limited by the kind of heart that its creators have. If the creator of the automated intelligence has a heart toward a liberal philosophy, for example, then so will the automation; if the creator has a heart toward a conservative philosophy, then so will the automation. There will never be an unbiased automated intelligence. Just as there is no unbiased human being. (Which is why, again, we have to be careful about pretending that AI is neutral; it is never neutral.)

But, and you may have figured this out by now already, we have the same truth with our own hearts. Our hearts are the product of our Creator, and the only heart that there is to give us is the heart that flows out of the nature of His own heart. There is nothing else. There is no other option. And so, we have in us the heart of God. 

Which is how our knowledge leads to things like love. And mercy. And grace. And goodness. And steadfastness. And neighborliness. And...you get the point. 

What's neat about the heart of God is that it does these things in diversity - uniquely through each and every one of us, exactly as He designed us. Automated intelligence, as we're creating it, has one way to do this; it's very narrow. 

So wait...if heart is what sets us apart from the machines and we have the heart of God, which leads to all kinds of good things, then why is there so much bad in the world? 

And...we're back to the question of theodicy again (which is where almost all of our questions about nearly anything lead us).....