Artificial Intelligence will be the last nail on God’s coffin
The era of enlightenment brought with it the idea that God is dead, a statement against which the franchise God’s not Dead was created. God, as an idea, will forever remain with humanity … or will stick around for several thousands years to come. But God as an entity to which humanity must seek homage has a few lingering years, and what’s very likely is that Artificial Intelligence, the general kind, or the singularity kind, will be the last nail on God’s coffin.
Humanity is not so sure how Artificial Intelligence will change life on earth and specifically human life. In one extreme end there are those who view Artificial Intelligence as an existential event; that is, an event that will render humans extinct. On the other extreme end there are the optimists who hope that all Artificial Intelligence will be able to do is to augment human life – make the human life more meaningful, more interesting, and add purpose to it. Particularly, they view Artificial Intelligence as this technology that will help lengthen human lifespan by ensuring equity in distribution of resources, offering free to affordable healthcare no matter the disease; be they the dreaded diseases like cancer, and generally help humans perform their duties including but not limited to acquiring knowledge. In the middle ground, where I belong, there are those who view Artificial Intelligence as a technology that will transform humans to become Artificial Intelligence. That is, instead of replacing humanity instantly by killing them, humanity will slowly acquire parts of the AI and robotics, until finally they become AI themselves.
The merger between AI and humans is already in progress. Today there are a lot of body parts including the appendages (arms, limbs), the hearts, and a few others that can be replaced by prosthesis, which by the way have started working much better than your natural god given arms. According to Nikolas Kairinos, founder and CEO of Fountech.ai, in 20 years we will not need to go to school. This is because, if everything goes according to plan, a biochip capable of interacting with brain neurons will be implanted in every human, and the chip will enable humans to download any information they want straight to their brain. “You won’t need to memorize anything,” said the specialist to the Daily Star. According to an articile appearing in The Telegraph, humans have already made a first big step towards developing a working machine-brain interface. The article reads, “Researchers claim to have developed a simulator which can feed information directly into a person’s brain and teach them new skills in a shorter amount of time, comparing it to “life imitating art. They believe it could be the first steps in developing advanced software that will make Matrix-style instant learning a reality.”
When it comes to AI finally driving the last nail into God’s coffin, it doesn’t matter which school of thought you belong in. In the pessimistic worldview, it is clear that if AI manages to get rid of humans, it shall in the same token managed to get rid of God. That is as simple as that.
In the other two worldviews – where 1. humans live side by side with AI as AI helps humans live a better life, and 2. humans becoming AI, AI will help humans become more hopeful within this life without the need to look towards a better life in an afterlife, take care of resources, and be able to achieve both individual and collective goals. It is the uncertainty of life that makes it easier for a human to imagine a better tomorrow, a hopeful future. But when tragedies like death, diseases, lack of food, natural disasters and similar uncertainties keep happening, humans postpone this hope of a better life to an afterlife; and that’s the breeding ground for God – that’s how humans become religious.
The data already exist. Societies that have been able to take care of equity and equality, those that have improved life expectancy and enhanced human’s quality of life, societies such as Japan, Norway, South Korea and others, have the highest number of unbelievers in the God myth. On the flip side, societies such as Kenya that have the highest level of corruption, poverty, and life’s uncertainty, have the highest levels of religious disillusionment. It therefore goes without saying that once Artificial Intelligence takes centre stage in human life – a stage where humans will not have to struggle to recall information or even memorise anything, a society where no one lacks food or healthcare, a society where good shelter is a given, there will definitely be no need for God. However it goes, someone can accurately predict, with a very high level of confidence, that Artificial Intelligence is coming here on earth specifically to drive the last nail into God’s coffin
