Should Christians Fear Artificial Intelligence?

 AI is a computer program that looks at patterns in data. It has no emotions or personal identity, even though the most advanced programs can carry on a conversation with you and refer to themselves as I.

AI can find obscure information almost instantly, translate between numerous languages simultaneously, whether they are spoken or written, and can create lifelike voices and images in seconds. Many people have begun to use it to enhance their Bible study. Tilly Norwood is a completely computer-generated actress who is now beginning to appear in motion pictures. Yes, AI can be a powerful tool.

We should not fear AI itself. It is not a conscious being, but is actually just numerous extremely fast computer programs which have been trained to mimic human behavior and speech. That is one of the concerns: it was trained by humans. You know about humans.

Rather than fear the computer programs, we need to be careful and wise about them. They can be used by criminals or malevolent persons to create fake videos, spread lies, or steal data. Some evil persons have created pornographic videos featuring the faces of innocent persons to whom they wish to cause embarrassment and harm. Some evil persons have used AI to mine and steal other peoples personal financial or private data. Some actors are afraid that their images and voices may be used to produce films in which they were not actually involved, costing them money, career choices, and personal reputation. Faked videos could conceivably be used to implicate innocent persons in crimes.

Just pay attention. Be as wise as a serpent and as innocent as a dove.

Tell Someone About This Blog

This blog is receiving between 2,000 and 5,000 discrete visits per month.  Why not 5,000 to 10,000?  Tell your friends, relatives, and fellow church members about the blog.  Mention the blog in one of your tweets, on your personal blog, or on your Facebook page.

This is primarily a ministry to Christians but it also is read by persons who are not Christian.  There have been visits originating from occultic and pornographic sites.  Some readers have been followers of non-Christian religions such as Judaism and Islam.

This blog will never intentionally insult anyone but it also will never back away from telling the Truth.  The Good News is for everyone and if only one person comes to Christ because of this blog, the angels will rejoice. (Luke 15:1-10)

A Christian Discussion of Sexuality

Just as I predicted, my post about the .XXX internet domain brought searches from pornographic sites.  Though you and I may not subscribe to every idea expressed in the interview (and Christians are not required to agree on every issue *) the link below is very interesting.  It is a question and answer session with two sexologists on the Christian sexually-oriented website Intimacy4us.

http://www.intimacy4us.co.za/fifteen-jawdropping-questions-sexologists/

*

"I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that." 1 Corinthians 7:7

"If anyone thinks he is acting improperly toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if she is getting along in years and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married. But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin—this man also does the right thing." 1 Corinthians 7:36, 37.

"A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord." 1 Corinthians 7:39

In all these verses, Paul uses the word thelo (wish), which carries the idea of personal preference or opinion. 

.XXX Domain Names

The ICM Registry of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has recently opened up registration of .XXX domain names to General Availability status.  Domain names are  specific unique identifiers of individual websites on the internet.  General availability means that anyone can register and own any domain name. And, sometimes, anyone does.

Cybersquatters are people and companies who buy up domain names in the hope of selling them later for a large profit.  Imagine how much money a celebrity or company would spend to block a pornographic website bearing their name.   Imagine www.Disney.xxx.  That is why the Disney company snapped up the domain name before anyone else could.  This is defensive registration of the domain name to prevent what amounts to legal extortion, or worse, an actual pornographic website bearing the iconic name.

Universities have begun to pro-actively buy up domain names.  The University of Kansas wisely has bought the domain www.kugirls.com and many others.  Other universities which have bought .xxx domains include Michigan, Penn State, Purdue, Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon, and Missouri.  Many companies are doing the same thing.  It might be wise for well-known churches and ministries to consider.

One very good thing about the .xxx suffix is that it can be used to filter out or block known pornographic websites from search engine results.  ICANN also has a proposed suffix .KIDS which would be for use by websites designed specifically for children.

"The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical distributed naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participating entities. Most importantly, it translates domain names meaningful to humans into the numerical identifiers associated with networking equipment for the purpose of locating and addressing these devices worldwide.

An often-used analogy to explain the Domain Name System is that it serves as the phone book for the Internet by translating human-friendly computer hostnames into IP addresses. " (Quotation taken from Wikipedia)
.

For more reading:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2011-12-09/xxx-university-domain/51825300/1?csp=ip 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.xxx 

http://www.icmregistry.com/

Anytime I post anything related to sex or pornography on this blog there are several visits by searchers originating on pornographic sites.  My hope is that these visitors may see Something on this blog which speaks to them. 

Porn Being Removed From Hotel Chains

Marriott International is joining several other hotel chains in removing access to pay-per-view pornography from its rooms.  The chain is moving into internet-based video-on-demand systems.

It would be good to think that these hotel chains are doing this because of altruistic motives or because of a conviction that pornography is inherently wrong.  The truth was probably stated by Robert Mandelbaum of Colliers PKF Hospitality Research when he said, "It's becoming a declining source of revenue."

Book Comment: The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb

You may never have heard of Robert Crumb (b. 1943, Philadelphia), but he is an internationally respected cartoonist closely associated with the underground counter-culture of the late twentieth century.  His pen or pencil is constantly moving and people have been known to follow him to grab left behind napkins, matchbook covers, and scraps of paper on which he has compulsively doodled.  His artwork sells for thousands of dollars.

Crumb has been described as a genius, a misogynist, a devoted and loving father, the founder of the underground comix movement, a misanthrope, a philanderer, a 78 RPM record collector, the creator of Fritz the Cat, a recluse, a talented musician, a counter culture icon, an illustrator capable of near-photographic portraits and highly stylized caricatures, an obsessive man, a man so famous that a documentary about his life and work has been made as a feature film, a compulsive man, a vulgar artist sometimes accused of producing pornography, a member of the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame (1991), and so on.  He is a very complex man.

Many were shocked, and some were highly offended, when R. Crumb decided to illustrate the Book of Genesis.   Crumb is known to not be religious in any traditional sense and, indeed, does have a history of producing images which could be interpreted as pornographic.

Crumb originally intended to do a "takeoff" of Adam and Eve but decided instead to do a literal verse by verse illustration of the entire book, as he says, "All 50 chapters." What resulted is a fascinating, massive, and controversial book illustrated in Crumb's distinctive highly detailed and intricate comic book style which I believe actually shows reverence for the book by not glossing over anything.  I mean that.  That is why the book is controversial.

Where people are naked in the Bible, they're naked in the book.  Where they have sex in the Bible, they have sex in the book.  Where there is killing, blood and guts abound.  The "begat lists" have a different face associated with each name.  The people are very plain, some are ugly, just like real people.  God is presented as a stern old man in flowing robes and with hair and beard hanging down to his feet.

Robert Crumb, in his introduction to the book says, "... I, ironically, do not believe the Bible is 'The Word of God."  I believe it is the words of men.  It is, nonetheless, a powerful text with layers of meaning that reach deep into our collective consciousness, our historical consciousness, if you will.  It seems indeed to be an inspired work..."

It may be that a man who is, at best, an agnostic, has shown more respect for a biblical text than those who squeamishly sanitize and euphemize the "hard parts." The sort of people who would be horrified to find out what "hand under thigh" (Genesis 24:2) means.

Crumb, R., The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2009)