ROBOTS AND THE IMAGE OF GOD

Part One

By W. Resume

Unless noted otherwise Scripture references are to the New International Version, UK edition of 1984.

ʻReason is the natural image of the Creatorʼ

— St. Bonaventure (1221-74) —

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the symbol of robots ACCORDING TO GENESIS the creatures of the sea, sky and land had adapted themselves to their respective environments perhaps some of them even becoming extinct long ages before Man appeared on the scene (Gen. 1: 26, 27). Made in the rational and emotional image of God, humanity was late in appearing, and though that fact owes nothing to the theory of human evolution, it is consistent with the assertion that humans were the latest development in the chain of life. As the science of anthropology reveals, there are underlying physical similarities between some animals and humans. This is not surprising, for all living things are comprised of earth-elements. In addition, some functions running, jumping, grasping require similar musco-skeletal structures (homologues). Resemblance exists in the machine world too, such as between the wheels of a supermarket trolley and those of a tractor. Similar motion, similar design.

Similarities between animals and humans may arise from the fact that all creatures occupy a common environment, subject to the effects of atmospheric pressures (in water or on land) and gravity. Such conditions dictate the permissible structure or size of each, and the means of locomotion. Thus the human configuration has numerous components in common with other creatures, from articulated joints, excretion, nervous system, blood circulation, and genetic coding. Experiments on rats or mice which yield human-applicable data, or the fact that the valve from a pig’s heart can be used to repair a human heart xenotransplant, a cross-species transplant demonstrate a degree of compatibility. Whether such traits are evidence of shared evolutionary inheritance is the sharp point at which Evolution and Scripture disagree. God may have dipped into His existing anatomical parts bin, but in making Man He crafted something original.

The Genesis Factor

The Biblical narrative makes an absolute distinction between plants and animals on the one hand which may have been developed through an automated process and Man on the other, who was a one-off design, superior to all forms of life that preceded him. The flora and fauna were ‘produced’, an expression which is perhaps broad enough to allow for evolution at the micro or macro level, though each after its own genus or species (Genesis 1: 11, 21; ‘kinds’; Heb., miyn). The process of developing animal life (sea, air, land) was certainly not accidental, but it was not the same as that which produced the first Man, who was a one-off innovation, unlike anything else. The fact that plant and animal life already ʻteemedʼ that is, was abundant to the number of perhaps tens of millions allows us to read Gen. 1: 26 – ʻLet us make manʼ, etc. as a contrast to what had gone before, marking a distinct change in the creative procedure.

One need not scrap the teachings of Genesis about the origin and creation of Man in order to accept a long evolution of vegetation and sentient non-human life. Many believers will disagree strongly with this assertion, especially those who hold to the doctrine of a young earth, maintaining that the universe, the earth and everything in it was created by God in a few days or a few thousand years. The current application of the theory of Evolution has no role for a Creator and is therefore atheistic. Therefore, on the principle of giving someone an inch and their taking a mile, many Christians will make no concessions whatever to the concept. But perhaps the most important view to defend is that nothing has come into existence outside of the oversight of the Creator, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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ʻHercule Poirot tapped his forehead.

“These little grey cells. It is up to them”.ʼʼ

The Mysterious Affair at Styles, by Agatha Christie

Man’s brain is remarkable, but it alone is not what distinguishes him from other creatures with brains. Man has a brain-mind combination which is quite unlike any other and grants him greater autonomy – not only independent action but also self-conscious thought within a moral framework. As the earth-bound expression of God, made in His image, Man in his pristine condition was God in miniature, made to be a maker and a beneficent ruler over earth, and a perfect example of virtue and integrity.

Of course, Man did not look like God. A heavenly creator would hardly need arms and legs. The Biblical term, ‘likeness’, connotes both man’s relationship to earth as similar to God’s relationship to heaven: that of Ruler. That of ‘image’ suggests disposition and character, and all that this implies: morality, self-awareness, intelligence, foresight, reasoning, and importantly the capacity to learn from experience. Nothing in the Genesis narrative tells us that at his creation Adam got a soul; rather, he became a soul a living being when he got life, or breath (Gen. 2: 7). ʻBreathʼ is translated from the Hebrew word nshamah – puff, or wind. The same word is used of all air-breathing sentient creatures, human or animal (Gen. 7: 22).

The ages-long disarray in human affairs can be traced to the injection of free will into the equation. This master stroke on the part of the Creator made possible a being who was a decision-maker, responsible for his own actions. The sinister side of this trait introduced the possibility of chaos, which is indeed what began when Adam chose to rebel against his Maker.

But this was no experiment gone wrong, like Dr. Frankensteinʼs creation run amok. God allows the chaos but is never outdistanced by it. Omniscience permits what Omnipotence need not control. This is celestial Genius. And the random, multi-stranded, complex littering of human experiences in the amphitheatre of history will in the end yield beneficial results for the entire human family.

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ʻIt is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence.

It biases the judgement.ʼ

Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet, by Arthur Conan Doyle

There were essential differences between the animals which preceded his debut and Man himself. With intellectual and emotional faculties far in advance of the lower species, Man was special. Imagination, self-awareness, rationality, appreciation of ironic humour, music, literature, speech including pre-speech, the ability to form his thoughts before expressing them his capacity for sacrificial love, compassion, contrition, self-inquiry, self-reproach, regret, sorrow this range of intellectual and emotional attributes are his alone. But the Curse of sin and death and its consequences having intervened between his creation and his current status, Man is today only a pale reflection of the divine image in which he was formed, making an accurate assessment of his original capabilities impossible.

As already stated, it is of the utmost importance to uphold the truths of Genesis and its claims regarding the origin of Man as one made in the image of God. From it flow all other Scriptural teachings regarding all phases of human existence: sin, the fall, death, the Ransom-sacrifice of Christ, the redemption of humanity, sexuality, personal and collective morality, prophecy, this life and the next in short, the past, present and future are inextricably linked to the foundational teachings of Genesis. It is fundamental to a correct understanding of the Gospel message. Of course, to non-believers, none of this has any meaning at all, and they would laugh hilariously at the notion of an Adam and Eve. People who have faith in such things, they contend, are stupid, unscientific and relics of a bygone era. Such sceptics may now wish to leave the room . . . .

We Think, Therefore God Is

Anyone who is paying attention to the liberal social changes under way in Britain will know how unfriendly the cultural climate has become to Christian belief and conservative morality. The situation is unlikely to improve. Christianity will continue to be ostracised, relegated to the sidelines, and smugly tolerated. In this state of affairs, absolute confidence in their interpretation of things is now the exclusive domain of the materialistic mind, while men and women of faith often struggle with private doubt, lamenting that they lack the ability to convincingly defend their cherished beliefs.

Just as the proverbial hammer views everything as a nail, so materialists see humans as little more than electro-mechanical entities, of temporary duration, having no future beyond the present life, their lives of no greater intrinsic value than that of any other animal, in an accidental universe of no meaning.

In 1980, Prof. Carl Sagan, an ardent believer in human evolution, proclaimed on his popular American television programme, Cosmos, ʻThe Cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or ever will be.ʼ

But not all non-believers are as confident that the universe is a coincidence. For example, the philosopher Prof. Thomas Nagel in his book, Mind and Cosmos (Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature is Almost Certainly False), avers that

The intelligibility of the world is no accident. Mind, in this view, is doubly related to the natural order. Nature is such as to give rise to conscious beings with minds; and it is such as to be comprehensible to such beings. Ultimately, therefore, such beings should be comprehensible to themselves. [Oxford University Press (2012); p. 17]

Laws = Order

The physical world is a product of forces acting according to certain prescribed laws to bring about a predictable and human-friendly order. Casual observation confirms this, in both its more obvious manifestations the routine rising and setting of the sun, to its invisible organisation such as the form, structure, and activity of atomic and subatomic particles, which underpin the success of existence and makes it possible. The order of the seen is the end result of the organisation of its microscopic discrete parts. The simplest form of life could not exist without laws and the order they impose scripts which determine what the life form should, or should not, become. Such things cannot be left to chance, even at the simplest level even less so with the highly complex blend of mind and matter that is the human being. Its physical construction, with symmetry in its whole and individual members, and the placement of its parts eyes, ears, nose, etc. argues against an ad hoc development of life, one arising from a ‘wild west’ of competing forces. Without orderly Mind and a plan of action, nothing orderly can be brought to a completion – the end in view.

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ʻOrders must be obeyed without question at all times.ʼ

Charles Chilton, Journey Into Space (BBC Radio)

The Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century brought the wide-spread deployment of steam-powered machinery, engines operated through pistons, levers and wires, transforming the manufacturing and transport sectors. Towards the end of that century the practical application of electricity carried by wires or stored in batteries made it possible to run machines and other devices remotely by motors, switches and relays. In the early twentieth century the transmission of radio signals made greater automation of machinery and other devices feasible. In the latter half of the twentieth century the innovation of the transistor and the miniaturisation of electronic components advanced the process, leading to the (almost) wireless world in which we now live and the remarkable computers we have on our desks or hold in our palms. Humanity can now relay its thoughts and godlike powers across vast distances, from broadcasting television programmes and telephone messages to the triggering of missile launches by satellites circling the earth.

The next goal on the horizon is the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to machines the creation of fully autonomous entities. Capable of independent reasoning and self-directed movement, these robots are expected to perform many of the tasks which humans either cannot do easily or well, or do not choose to. For example, deciding when to lift and turn bed-bound patients to prevent bedsores. Or entering dangerous or contaminated buildings to effect repairs or assess damage. Though many hazardous undertakings are now carried out through the use of tethered machines activated by an operator through remote control, the new breed of robot will not require guidance from outside, but will use its own judgement.

At the present rate of progress in the science of artificial intelligence, human-like robots may be a reality within a generation. Since all engineering design is a compromise, the outward appearance of these new robots will vary, depending on the task or tasks to be accomplished, and they might resemble a wheelchair, a box, or even a large insect having the unsettling ability to scurry and hide.

They might even look like us.

Pull The Other Leg

Is all this wishful thinking? We live in an age of surprises . . . when nothing really surprises. The University of Pennsylvania has already developed a fleet of miniature flying drones, each one capable of adjusting its position in the fleet relative to its neighbour, as a flock of birds might. Even the computer we now have on our desk at home has capabilities our own brains can neither understand nor beat. It maintains millions of files and documents in its silicon brain and can compute complex sets of numbers faster and more accurately than can we. When plugged into the Internet a vast web of interconnected computers (servers) it can be instructed to find information on any subject and retrieve the results for our perusal in a few seconds. A short generation ago such machines would have seemed incredible. Now they are ubiquitous and we take them for granted.

Today's desktop or hand-held computer is run by scripts (programs) and is limited by the scope of the instructions (information) supplied to its processor. The robot of the future, as envisioned by computer scientists, will be endowed with intelligence modelled on our own heuristic capability that is, able to learn from experience. Such a robot would also need artificial ethics, built-in restraints on what it is or is not allowed to do. The term used by some in this advanced field of robotics is the making of machines in man's ʻimageʼ. The prospect raises interesting questions, which we will explore in the next instalment.

Continues

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March 2014. Author rights asserted, except that you may reproduce this article in whole or in part without express permission, but please acknowledge its source.

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