Nothing Artificial

We are living in an age of artificial intelligence, which is nothing more than automated intelligence, the product of its human creator. And that human creator's intelligence is really God's intelligence, as the product of its Creator. What separates us, first, from the machines that we create is our heart, which is God's heart, which allows us to use the intelligence that we have in ways that impact the world, not just in ways that shortcut information. Our automated intelligence has yet to do this. 

But if our intelligence is God's intelligence and our heart is God's heart, how do we end up with so much bad in the world? 

The answer is the other thing that sets us apart from the automated intelligences that we create: choice. 

When we create an intelligence, even if we try to give it heart, we tell it exactly what to do. AI is programmed so that it does certain things in certain ways, producing certain outcomes. It operates according to its master code and nothing more. Even when we have attempted to introduce "choice" into a code, the only thing we have truly succeeded at introducing is a randomizer (Google's famed "Feelin' lucky?" search engine, anyone?). It may be a randomizer within certain limitations, but it's still nothing more than a randomizer. 

And that's because we have not gotten the "heart" code right. We have not been able to program the automation to evaluate the information and make a wise decision regarding it - we can only get closer or further away, and only then to a degree. What we can convince automation to do with the code is essentially random, as we simply cannot account for all of the micro-realities of human knowledge. That is, heart. 

God, on the other hand, has created us with choice. He can do that because we have a heart to guide us. The heart sometimes gets messed up - sometimes gets a bug in it - but it's still there to guide us. But because God has the heart piece right, He can give us choice, as well, and we can be truly free to choose - not randomly, but on the basis of our intelligence.

We choose based on heart. We choose based on the considerations we make about how information can be applied and what the impact of those applications might be. Who they might affect. What they might affect. To what degree. What other choices they will either open or close.

And sometimes, we choose terribly. 

We don't know we're choosing terribly. Most of us would not willingly choose something that we thought was bad or negative or evil. Yet, we do. We consider it with our heart, with God's heart, and we choose what we think is best based on our limited knowledge and perspective, and we go with it. And sometimes, it's just plain wrong. Sometimes, it turns out poorly. Sometimes, it doesn't look like the intelligence and heart of our Creator are in us, and if they are, it doesn't look like they are good. 

But even in our bad choices, there's nothing artificial about us. There's something authentic - we're just doing our best with what we know. 

Or maybe we're more like Google's "Feelin' Lucky?" than we'd like to think sometimes. 

But at least when we are, we can apologize for it. 

THAT'S heart.