Category
Oral - Textual or Investigative
Description
This paper examines the broad topic of personhood within the context of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and how consciousness, namely the free will aspect, can frame our interactions, especially when considering a typical evangelical hermeneutic. AI which is simply a Bio-Inspired design from God’s glorious creation has a long and rich history spanning almost 70 years. AI as a term was first coined in 1956, although the mathematics of computing in general, then dubbed “Turing Machines” was two decades earlier. Despite going through “AI winters” or periods where AI fell out of popularity due to high expectations and overpromising of researchers, AI became prominent in the general culture of the world through media representations. This paper looks at the prominent media portrayal of AI consciousness before going into brief technical details concerning media depictions of AI consciousness. From movie portrayals in decade spanning franchises (both in film narrative and in production) such as Blade Runner, Terminator, and Star Wars; to smaller narratives each depicting heavy philosophical pushes such as Bicentennial Man, and I-Robot, AI has grasped the imagination and attention of the world wide community regardless of it prominence in research and application. This paper investigates consciousness, with its highly debated myriad of definitions, focusing on free will and AI’s deterministic aspects which prohibit a true free will. A comparative is presented on free will as it is portrayed in Scripture and ultimately examines the Biblical aspects missing from AI such as stewardship, human flourishing, original sin, and life and death. This paper ends by easing fears through brief technological highlights and a praise for God’s perfection in creation.
Spiritually Artificial: Divine Intersection Exploration
Oral - Textual or Investigative
This paper examines the broad topic of personhood within the context of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and how consciousness, namely the free will aspect, can frame our interactions, especially when considering a typical evangelical hermeneutic. AI which is simply a Bio-Inspired design from God’s glorious creation has a long and rich history spanning almost 70 years. AI as a term was first coined in 1956, although the mathematics of computing in general, then dubbed “Turing Machines” was two decades earlier. Despite going through “AI winters” or periods where AI fell out of popularity due to high expectations and overpromising of researchers, AI became prominent in the general culture of the world through media representations. This paper looks at the prominent media portrayal of AI consciousness before going into brief technical details concerning media depictions of AI consciousness. From movie portrayals in decade spanning franchises (both in film narrative and in production) such as Blade Runner, Terminator, and Star Wars; to smaller narratives each depicting heavy philosophical pushes such as Bicentennial Man, and I-Robot, AI has grasped the imagination and attention of the world wide community regardless of it prominence in research and application. This paper investigates consciousness, with its highly debated myriad of definitions, focusing on free will and AI’s deterministic aspects which prohibit a true free will. A comparative is presented on free will as it is portrayed in Scripture and ultimately examines the Biblical aspects missing from AI such as stewardship, human flourishing, original sin, and life and death. This paper ends by easing fears through brief technological highlights and a praise for God’s perfection in creation.
Comments
Doctorate