Part 7: Transhumanism - the dangers
Today, many scientists, philosophers, politicians and religious leaders are calling for the urgent regulation of the technologies we’ve mentioned. They fear for the very future of mankind.
Those involved in the quest for godhood and immortality outside of God believe we’re on the threshold of a coming Utopia. Others, both Christian and non-Christian incidentally, believe that we should be fearful of the consequences.
Many now express concern that mankind is beginning to play God and speculate that something ominous could be on the horizon – including a war between those in favour of the newly evolved life forms and those against.
A group of 18 prominent scientists and experts in law and ethics—led by Nobel Laureate David Baltimore and Stanford biochemist and Nobel Laureate Paul Berg, published a letter recently in ‘Science’ calling for a moratorium on some uses of this technology.
The group, which met in Napa, California, in January for a one-day summit, fretted about a possible ‘slippery slope’ that might occur from using disease-curing applications that everyone wants, ‘toward uses with less compelling or even troubling implications.’
The Washington Post reports the Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak when speaking about the aspect of artificial intelligence saying:
The future is scary and very bad for people
Damien Walter writing in The Guardian said recently:
‘Science fiction's most radical vision of the future, with humanity redundant, is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.’
In January, Bill Gates said:
I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence
A month earlier Steven Hawking said that artificial intelligence:
Could spell the end of the human race
British inventor Clive Sinclair told the BBC that he thinks artificial intelligence will doom humankind, and he said this:
Once you start to make machines that are rivalling and surpassing humans with intelligence, it's going to be very difficult for us to survive, it's just an inevitability
So what are we to learn from all of this and more importantly what are we to do? Satan’s siren call is once again being sounded with the same old lie: ‘you surely will not die, you will become as gods.’
The new variations on these old lies comes in several flavours from New Age mysticism that tells its followers that they are ‘evolving’ into gods, to various scientific lines of research that promise eternal life and godhood through genetic modification, replacement of the body with mechanical or electronic systems, or combination of all of these.
Once again evil forces hope to use fallen angel technology to shift the balance of power from God and mankind to Satan and his followers; with hollow promises of eternal life without the need of God or morality. Even now, these seducing spirits are guiding and tricking mankind to unwittingly commit genetic suicide. The replacement race stands poised to bring about the total annihilation of the human race.
In response, we need to add our voices to those who are expressing their concerns and to speak out against such experiments. Like Noah we must endure the scoffing of those who will deride doing the right thing. We must resist the temptation to alter our lives and lower our morals in exchange for a corrupt promise of extended life.
We must learn to ignore the lives of those who promise freedom but offer only corruption, who have been misled and who think they are masters of their fate when in truth they’ve become slaves to their own lies and passions.
Tom and Nita Horn, in their book, ‘Forbidden Gates’ offer this advice:
Learn the nature and extent of this new science. Get to know how it may manifest itself; the people and organisations involved; the vocabulary; and where to turn for current, factual news about it
Learn what God’s word has to say about this new science. We must first understand that the God we serve supremely dominates anything we encounter in our lives. We then must realise that the Bible anticipates every bit of it and tells us exactly how to deal with it
Learn how to spot when you encounter the fruits of this new science and know the appropriate steps to strip them of their power.
This series of articles has been but a brief introduction to a very wide subject, but will, we hope, begin to equip God’s people to be able to address all three points above.