Article #400
by Bill Nugent
You’ve probably heard the term “technological singularity” or just “singularity” discussed in the media in recent months. Singularity is the claim that technology growth will accelerate to such a degree that it goes beyond human control, possibly causing catastrophic results for human civilization.
The Bible, in Revelation 13, predicts the rise of a global totalitarian government just before the second coming of Christ. High technology will most certainly be used to set up that oppressive system.
The Bible prophecies of a time of great technological acceleration. Consider what God spoke to the prophet Daniel in Daniel 12:4: “but as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.”
The above Bible verse is predictive of our own times in which transportation has been radically accelerated and there’s a huge increase in technological knowledge.
We are nearing or perhaps already entered singularity. Christians must deal with and prepare for singularity. Technological hypergrowth is extremely dangerous.
In order to be relevant to the current generation, the church must confront the challenges of the times. The church of the early 1500s had to deal with the issue of the German Peasants Revolt of 1525 to cite one example.
Musk and Kurzweil: Transhumanism
Ray Kurzweil (1948- ) is a futurist and inventor who is deeply involved in transhumanism. Transhumanism is the concept that human beings will be joined to computers empowered by artificial intelligence. It’s a blending of human and machine.
Kurzweil is a real optimist with radical hopes for an enlightened transhumanist future for humankind. I know this sounds bizarre but there are many tech companies that are working towards transhumanism not the least of which is Elon Musk’s Neuralink corporation.
Elon musk (1971- ) founded the company Neuralink in 2016 along with eight highly sophisticated engineers. They are developing brain computer interfaces (BCI), in which chips are implanted in or near the human brain and connected to the brain by various probes.
Neuralink has done years of animal experiments with this to try and perfect it to make it safe for humans. Musk was criticized for the many primates which were euthanized during this process.
They’ve recently begun implanting chips in humans. Of course, at this early stage they are working towards healing paralysis and blindness. Neuralink technology called Blindsight will connect a BCI to the visual cortex of the brain and enable a person to see by connecting it to a special computer with visual ability.
At this point it’s all framed in the context of healing people. However, Musk has indicated plans for Neuralink to connect humans to computers with artificial intelligence.
As you may have read, artificial intelligence is progressing to the point where it is likely to soon exceed individual human intelligence. Futurists are foreseeing a time not too far distant in which artificial intelligence will have more intelligence than the combined intelligence of all 8 billion brains of people living on planet earth.
Trifling With Life
In 1818, Mary Shelley wrote a book titled Frankenstein. It was the first horror novel ever written. In fact it actually began the horror genre. In this book, Dr Victor Frankenstein assembles a pseudo human from various body parts. The monster comes to life and Dr. Frankenstein loses control of it.
The book, Frankenstein is considered a crude early reference to transhumanism in science fiction horror. The trouble is, transhumanism is not science fiction, rather it’s cutting-edge science in our own day.
In this book someone confronts Dr Frankenstein with the sentence “How dare you trifle thus with life!” I guess that’s what we should ask Elon musk and Ray Kurzweil who are trifling with human life and attempting to blend it with machines.
In 1998, Nick Bostrom and David Pearce started the World Transhumanist Association. In 2008 they changed the name of the organization to Humanity+. There’s been conflict within the organization over the years between right and left factions. The right wingers are really libertarians and the left wingers tend towards more socialist and utopian goals.
Artificial intelligence and transhumanism have economic and political implications. In fact, as it progresses it will touch every conceivable area of human life.
The Secular Attempt to Conquer Death
The purpose of transhumanism is to extend human life indefinitely. Human consciousness itself could be uploaded onto a super-computer and a person can “live” in that machine. This super-computer, containing human consciousness, could be encased in the skull of an Optimus walking robot, enabling that person to live forever. This all sounds bizarre and extreme but this is what the carnal mind of man has planned for the future of humanity.
Perhaps it’s because of their belief of atheistic evolution and materialism that secular people say there’s no life after death. The Humanist Manifesto of 1933 says plainly that they do not believe in any conscious existence after death. Secular humanists apparently do not believe in the existence of the immortal human spirit. By contrast, the Bible teaches that humans will have an immortal existence in the afterlife in either heaven or hell.
The atheists and humanists seek to do an end run around the Bible and create an earthly human immortality by uploading humans into machines. It’s really bizarre and I think it’s really pathetic.
Authoritarianism Predicted in Revelation 13
In the Bible, in Revelation chapter 13, we see an international authoritarian government headed by a world dictator called the beast. The beast is the coming Antichrist. “You have heard that antichrist shall come” (I John 2:18).
It could be that the Antichrist himself could be a transhuman person with super intelligence. In any event, artificial intelligence certainly would be at the forefront of setting up an international authoritarian governmental system. AI could be used to run a system of sophisticated surveillance to track down and round up people who dare to dissent.
In short, we see the infrastructure of future global authoritarianism being set up. The construction of the infrastructure of authoritarianism is happening as we speak.
CBDC: Economic Surveillance and Oppression
Perhaps you’ve heard of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Think of a crypto-currency like bitcoin only issued by a government. It’s a currency that’s issued by central banks digitally and eliminates the need for cash.
The trouble with CBDC is that it’s totally traceable on the blockchain. Cash is not traceable. This is why there’s a war on cash.
Of course, promoters say they would trace CBDC only to prevent money laundering by criminals. However, anyone can see the propensity for governments to control their people and spy on them. Authoritarian governments could actually shut down CBDC access for citizens who dissent. Dissenters could have no access to their own money!
The Meaning of Human Life
In our present generation the transhumanists are trying to build a future by combining human beings with machines.
Transhumanists need to take stock of themselves and ponder what human existence really means.
What does it mean to be human? This is the most basic question of philosophy. In order to answer it we must consider the three most basic questions regarding human existence.
These three questions are “How did I get here? “Why am I here? and “Where am I going?
The Christian has typically answered the three questions as follows:
1) How did I get here?
Answer: God created the first humans and I am descended from the first humans.
2) Why am I here?
This is a question having to do with the purpose or meaning of human life.
Answer: The Bible gives the answer in the greatest commandment which is written in Deuteronomy 6:5 in the Old Testament and in Matthew 22 37 in the New Testament. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” The Westminster Shorter Catechism states that the purpose or chief end of man is “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”
3) Where am I going?
This is the question of eschatology which has to do with the future state of existence of each human being.
Answer: I will end up in either heaven or hell. If I submit to God and receive His salvation which was purchased by Jesus Christ through His death and resurrection in which He took the penalty of my sins upon Himself, enabling me to receive forgiveness of sins, I will enter into heaven to be with God forever and enjoy God forever.
However, If I continue in sin and do not repent and do not receive the salvation offered through Christ I will be separated from the goodness of God in the afterlife and I will be in a place of anguish and pain.
The atheists, transhumanists and humanists would answer the three questions as follows:
1) How did I get here?
Answer: it was all an accident. Random collisions of atoms in the early Earth gave rise accidentally to the first living cells which, through random chance, evolved into Crustaceans, amphibians, lizards, mammals, primates and finally humans.
2) Why am I here?
This is the question of the purpose of human existence.
Answer: There really is no purpose for human life. Karl Marx said humans are just “atoms in motion.” Just eat drink and be merry for tomorrow you die.
3) Where am I going?
This is eschatology; the end game for humanity.
Answer: Earlier generations of humanists simply regarded the end of human life as annihilation. The Humanist Manifesto of 1933 says there’s no conscious existence in the afterlife. If there is no conscious existence after death, then there is no future for any human being. This makes human existence essentially futile.
The Spirit World
There is a spirit world and God is the author of it. God resides in the spirit world. Each human being has an immortal human spirit living within the human body. That human spirit lives forever. God’s answer is salvation of the human spirit and resurrection of the human body to be in existence forever in the presence of a loving God.
You can call the resurrection of the dead, God’s transhumanism. The resurrection of the Dead is promised in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.
A Choice Between Two Paths
There are several times in church history where two clear paths are presented to the people. In the first century it was Jesus or the Pharisees. In the time of the Protestant Reformation it was Luther or Erasmus. In the 1920s it was a choice between fundamentalism which embraces the divine inspiration of the Bible or modernism which rejects the Bible. In our day it’s a choice between God’s salvation or man’s transhumanism.
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants” (Deuteronomy 30 19 NASB).
“Choose you this day whom ye will serve . . . but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).
The Holy Bible is Wholly True
God has given us many assurances that His book, the Holy Bible, is completely true. The Bible contains hundreds of prophecies that were written in its pages and have been fulfilled down through history. Jesus Christ came in fulfillment of hundreds of Messianic prophecies which were written in the Old Testament hundreds of years before He was born.
The Old Testament prophets foretold that Christ, the Messiah of Israel, would suffer and die for the sins of the people. “All of us like sheep have gone astray; Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him” (Isaiah 53:6 NASB, written over 700 years before Christ).
The Bible is also vindicated by archaeology. The Bible mentions many places and nations. Archaeologists have discovered the remains of places and artifacts that confirm the accuracy the Bible.
God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. God has provided for forgiveness of your sins through Jesus Christ who took the penalty of your sins upon Himself. Christ was sinless but He suffered and died for our sins. Christ was raised from the dead to offer forgiveness of sins to all who repent and call upon Him for salvation.
I invite you to turn to Christ today to receive forgiveness of sins.
Steps to salvation:
Jesus said “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7).
Prayer to receive salvation:
“Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).
To receive the salvation that Jesus purchased for us at the terrible cost of His suffering and death on our behalf I invite you to pray this simple prayer:
“Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus, the promised Messiah, to die for my sins. I admit that I am a sinner. I repent of my sins and I ask for your forgiveness on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit to empower me to serve you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Amen.”
If you prayed this prayer in the humble sincerity of your heart then you have received everlasting life, which includes power to live right in this life and entrance into heaven in the afterlife!