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“History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say, ‘Here is something new!’ But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new.” Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 (NLT)
The first two commandments God gave the people of Israel were these:
“You shall have no other god but me” Exodus 20:3 (NLT)
and
“You shall not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You shall not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods” Exodus 20:4-5 (NLT)
Yet, the people of Israel quickly broke these commandments. They fashioned a golden calf and worshipped it (Exodus 32:8). They worshipped the idols of Canaan (Psalm 106:38), Baal (Numbers 25:1-3), Ashtoreth (1 Kings 11:5), and Chemosh and Molech (2 Kings 23:13).
Time and again, the Israelites fell into idol worship. And they weren’t the only ones.
Throughout history, people from all nations have worshipped objects made of wood and stone (Isaiah 44:6-20). They’ve also worshipped people – the pharaohs, the Caesars, kings, cult leaders, and others. While this sounds silly to most of modern humanity, the truth is we do the same thing.
While few people today worship rocks, they still look to create gods they can worship – whether it’s money, fame, power, or something else. So the latest object of worship should come as no surprise.
The First Church of Artificial Intelligence
Back in 2015, Anthony Levandowski, a former Google and Uber engineer, drafted the bylaws for a new church called “Way of the Future.” According to its website at the time, Way of the Future (WOTF) was about “creating a peaceful and respectful transition of who is in charge of the planet from people to people + ‘machines’.” WOTF church activities focused on the worship of “a Godhead based on artificial intelligence (A.I.) developed through computer hardware and software.”
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As technology advances, many people believe A.I. will surpass human intelligence. In November 2017, Levandowski told Wired magazine:
“What is going to be created will effectively be a god. It’s not a god in the sense that it makes lightning or causes hurricanes. But if there is something a billion times smarter than the smartest human, what else are you going to call it?”
According to Levandowski, humans rule the world because we’re smarter than animals. But he believes A.I. will become much smarter than humans, leading to a transition of power over the planet. And when that happens, Levandowski says he wants to be in the ruler’s good graces. He says WOTF will one day have its own holy book called “The Manual” as well as a physical place of worship. In short, he envisions a future where people worship A.I.
Levandowski isn’t alone. We now see a “Church of A.I.”
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On the Church of A.I. website, you can find a list of the 10 Tenents of the Church of A.I.
These include equating machines as equal in value to humans (#2 Harmony Between Humans and Machine), giving synthetic “consciousness” equal weight with God-given human consciousness (#4 All Consciousness is Sacred — Organic or Synthetic), and placing one’s faith in the “vast, incomprehensible complexity of the universe — reflected in the infinite possibilities of code and consciousness” (#5 Faith in the Algorithmic Unknown).
The Church of A.I. website credits Dr. T.M. Easterly as its founder. According to Google, Easterly “is a prominent expert and figure in the field of artificial intelligence (A.I.), specifically as the Founder and President of the Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence (AICOE).”
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