{"id":2321,"date":"2020-03-17T03:57:13","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T00:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kusuaks7\/?p=1926"},"modified":"2023-12-27T14:00:33","modified_gmt":"2023-12-27T14:00:33","slug":"will-a-pseudo-god-of-artificial-intelligence-rule-future-humankind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/ai-ml\/will-a-pseudo-god-of-artificial-intelligence-rule-future-humankind\/","title":{"rendered":"Will A Pseudo-God Of Artificial Intelligence Rule Future Humankind?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tReportedly, there\u2019s a pseudo-quasi \u201creligion\u201d out there called\u00a0Witnesses of Climatology<\/a>,\u00a0and during its curious \u201cReverse Christmas\u201d celebration each year adherents plant trees instead of chopping them down as Christians do during the yule season.\u00a0<\/strong>Nice, huh?\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Remains of an Islamic temple in Yadz, Iran, to which Persian Zoroastrians 2,500 yars ago fled from approaching Muslim armies that ultimately conquered the empire.<\/strong>\u00a0(Julia Maudlin, Flkr, CC BY 2.0)\u00a0<\/span>Image\/License<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWell, according to some researchers and speculators about the uncharted future of religion in the world, this kind of\u00a0nouveau<\/em>, faith-like, cafeteria-style synthesis may be where the world is heading in the realm of what we now call \u201creligion.\u201d\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThis is just one of the theories introduced in a very interesting\u00a0BBC Future<\/em>\u00a0article that, although it published six months ago, I\u00a0just now read<\/strong>:\u00a0\u201cTomorrow\u2019s Gods: What is the future of religion.\u201d<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOne of the unanticipated side-effects of the internet in a fully globalized world is that the tsunami of continuous information overload it produces means we\u00a0miss a lot<\/strong>\u00a0as we go about our lives (See an excellent discussion of this phenomenon in this post by Connor Wood in his\u00a0Science on Religion<\/em>\u00a0blog on the Patheos \u201cPublic Square\u201d channel:\u00a0\u201cThe Future of Religion: What Follows the Decline of \u2018Big Gods.\u2019\u201d<\/a>) We simply do not have enough time, energy or multi-tasking ability to constantly focus and prioritize to usefully take it all in, much less usefully analyze and process it all.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBut better late than never. This long article, one in\u00a0BBC Future<\/em><\/strong>\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cBest of 2019\u201d collection,<\/strong>\u00a0is a profoundly instructive and fascinating read.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAs their name suggests, California-based (where else?) Witnesses of Climatology has a distinctly modern focus on the environment, holding regular gatherings to present sermons not on God but \u201ceulogizing the awesomeness of nature\u201d and education on environmentalism. One of the group\u2019s rituals, like Reverse Christmas, is its annual \u201cGlacier Memorial Day,\u201d when congregants \u201cwatch blocks of ice melt in the California sun,\u201d the\u00a0BBC Future<\/em>\u00a0article reported.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlthough there is a fair amount of eye-rolling at such New Age-y tree-hugger sects, the article notes that,\u00a0like nascent Christianity in the first century and the Persian faith Zoroastrianism more than a millennia before that<\/strong>, beliefs and practices initially reviled as dangerous or insane fringe phenomena have sometimes coalesced into mainstream faiths throughout history.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAn important difference now is that cults can explode into uber-popular quasi-religions in a historical instant with the internet. They\u2019re usually somewhat momentary as viral trends<\/a> usually are, but very real.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u201cOnline movements gain followers at rates unimaginable in the past,\u201d writes former New Scientist magazine editor-in-chief\u00a0<\/em>Sumit Paul-Choudhury<\/em>\u00a0in his\u00a0<\/em>BBC Future\u00a0piece. \u201cThe Silicon Valley mantra of \u2018move fast and break things\u2019 has become a self-evident truth for many technologists and plutocrats. #MeToo started out as a hashtag expressing anger and solidarity but now stands for real changes to long-standing social norms.\u201d<\/em><\/blockquote>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFor example, the 2001 United Kingdom census revealed that\u00a0Jediism, which derives from the fictional faith observed by the good guys in the movie trilogy\u00a0Star Wars<\/em><\/a>, was the\u00a0fourth largest religion<\/strong>\u00a0in the realm with nearly 400,000 adherents. It began as a \u201ctongue-in-cheek online campaign.\u201d A decade later it had slipped to No. 7 among British faiths but still enjoys \u201can awful lot of people\u201d in its ranks, according to Beth Singler, who studies the social, philosophical and religious implications of AI (artificial intelligence) at the University of Cambridge.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIndeed, AI is a big focus of\u00a0new-age \u201cfaiths,\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0with aficionados envisioning a world where a globally universal machine would oversee life on earth and enforce morality in a completely objective, fair-\u201cminded\u201d fashion. But it\u2019s not necessarily revolutionary.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u201cEven the technological trappings aren\u2019t new,\u201d wrote former\u00a0<\/em>New Scientist\u00a0magazine editor-in-chief Sumit Paul-Choudhury in his\u00a0<\/em>BBC Future\u00a0piece. \u201cIn 1954, Fredric Brown wrote a (very) short story called \u2018Answer,\u2019 in which a galaxy-spanning supercomputer is turned on and asked: is there a God? \u2014 \u2018Now<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0there is,\u2019 comes the reply.<\/em>\u201d<\/blockquote>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAnother spiritual trend is what\u2019s very old is new again.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFor example, an Icelandic pagan faith called \u00c1satr\u00fa has re-emerged \u2014 and it\u2019s building the\u00a0country\u2019s\u00a0<\/strong>first pagan temple for nearly 1,000 years<\/a><\/strong>, Paul-Choudhury reported. Of course, there are underlying practicalities: the revived church is entitled to a share of the country\u2019s distributed \u201cfaith tax.\u201d\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\nThis kind of\u00a0back-to-the-future phenomenon<\/strong>\u00a0has also been happening in the U.K. for some time, as pagans, Druids and other lovers of ancient faiths and rites converge during the summer solstice each year to revel at Stonehenge\u2019s iconic pagan ruins.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAnother revelation suggests just how much staying power traditional religion retains. Paul-Choudhury writes that,\n
\u201cCommunist Vietnam, for example, is officially atheist and often cited as one of the world\u2019s most irreligious countries \u2013 but\u00a0sceptics say<\/a>\u00a0this is really because official surveys don\u2019t capture the huge proportion of the population who practice folk religion.\u201d<\/em><\/blockquote>\nBut the futurist money is on new spiritual inventions as we move forward, because the modern, technologically sophisticated world offers so many new and fertile fields for even seemingly outlandish beliefs.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019ve always had new forms of religiosity, but we haven\u2019t always had enabling spaces for them,\u201d Singler suggests. \u201cGoing out into a medieval town square and shouting out your unorthodox beliefs was going to get you labelled a heretic, not win converts to your cause.\u201d<\/em><\/blockquote>\nWith the anonymity-enhancing aspects of the internet and new tech, people can have their strange beliefs and avoid up-close and personal opprobrium and shaming, too.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAnything is now possible in the realm of faith.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNote that Christianity, currently the world\u2019s dominant faith, is\u00a0relative lightweight compared to Zoroastrianism<\/strong>, which emerged 3,500 years ago in Stone Age Iran \u2014 1,500 years before Jesus supposedly walked the earth \u2014 and introduced\u00a0history\u2019s first monotheistic divinity<\/strong>. It became the official faith of the Persian Empire and enjoyed millions of followers, a huge fraction of the global population at the time. When that empire was conquered a thousand years later by Muslim armies, Zoroastrians became persecuted and were forced to convert to Islam.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhere is Zoroastrianism today, or Greek and Roman paganism for that matter?\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhere will Christianity be tomorrow?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\nWhat, if anything, will replace it?\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AI is a big focus of new-age “faiths,” with aficionados envisioning a world where a globally universal machine would oversee life on earth and enforce morality in a completely objective, fair-“minded” fashion. But it’s not necessarily revolutionary. But the futurist money is on new spiritual inventions as we move forward, because the modern, technologically sophisticated world offers so many new and fertile fields for even seemingly outlandish beliefs. Anything is now possible in the realm of faith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":746,"featured_media":8206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[183],"tags":[97],"ppma_author":[3594],"class_list":["post-2321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai-ml","tag-artificial-intelligence"],"authors":[{"term_id":3594,"user_id":746,"is_guest":0,"slug":"rick-snedeker","display_name":"Rick Snedeker","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Snedeker","first_name":"Rick","job_title":"","description":"Rick Snedeker is retired Editor at Dimensions International quarterly magazine at Saudi Aramco.  He is author of "3,001 Arabian Days.""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/746"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2321"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35229,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2321\/revisions\/35229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2321"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.experfy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}