Who doesn’t like to listen to podcasts? Listeners are growing by the day in the major platforms (Spotify, Google, Apple Play). But is there QUALITY content?
AI Theology presents to you a new podcast. Elias Kruger and Maggie Bender discuss the intersection between theology and technology in the budding world of AI and other emerging technologies. They bring the best from academy, industry and church together in a lively conversation. Join us and expand your mind with topics like ai ethics, ai for good, guest interviews and much more.
Here is episode 1: Faith, AI and the Climate Crisis
Elias Kruger and Maggie Bender discuss how AI and faith can help address in the climate crisis. We dive into some controversy here and how religion has not always been an ally in the battle for conservation. Yet, what are the opportunities for AI and faith to join forces in this daunting challenges. The conversation covers creation, worship, algorithms, optimization and recent efforts to save the Amazon.
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At our January Advisory Board meeting, we explored the question of whether we live in a technological age. You can find Part 1 of our conversation in this post. In Part 2 below, we discuss a new telos of technology.
Elias: I think we established, for the most part, that this is a technological age. Maybe we always have been in a technological age, but technology is definitely part of our lives now. Some of you started hinting at the idea that technology is pointing towards something. It is teleological, from the Greek word telos, meaning goal. Technology leads toward something. And I think Chardin saw technology leading into the Omega point, while Ellul saw it more as a perversion of a Christian eschaton. In his view, the Christian position was to resist and subvert it.
The question I have now is very broad. How do we forge a new vision, a new telos, for technology? Or maybe even, what would that telos be? We talked earlier about technology for the sake of capitalism or consumption. What would be a new telos for technology, and how would we forge this new vision?
No Overall Goal for Technology
František: I have a great colleague with a technical background and a longtime friend. I studied with him in Amsterdam. He’s now sort of an important person in a company developing AI. He’s a member of the team which programmed the AI to play poker. So he’s quite skillful in programming, and actually working on the development of AI. He’s developing amazing things.
I spoke with him about this telos question, “What is the aim of technology?” He said, “Well, there is no such thing as an overall goal.” The goal is to improve our program to be able to fight more sophisticated threats to our system. That’s what we are developing. So basically, there is no general telos of technology. There is only a narrow focus. There is just the goal to improve technology, that it gets better, and serves better the concrete purpose for which is built. It’s a very particular focus.
A Clash of Mentalities
I was very unhappy with this answer. After all, there must be some goal. And he said, “Well, that’s the business of theologians.” My friend said he doesn’t believe in anything. Not in theism, not even in atheism, he just doesn’t bother discussing it. So for him, there is no God, no goal, nothing. We’re just living our life. And we’re improving it. We are improving it step by step. He’s a well-studied, learned person, and he sees it like that. I’ve experienced the same thing during conversations with many of my friends who are working in technology on the technical or the business side.
So they would say, perhaps, there is no goal. That’s a clash of mentalities. We are trying to build a bridge between this technological type of thinking and the theological, philosophical perspective which intends to see the higher goal.
I don’t have a good argument. You can try to convince him that there is a higher goal, but he doesn’t believe in a higher goal. So I’m afraid that a lot of people developing technology do not see further than the next step of a particular piece of technology. And I’m afraid that here we are, getting close to the vision of the Brave New World, you know, the novel. People are improving technology on a particular stage, but they do not see the full picture. It is all about improving technology to the next step. There is no long-term thinking. Perhaps there are some visionaries, but this is at least my experience, which I’m afraid is quite broad in the field of technology.
The Human Telos of Technology
Maggie: I feel like that happens a lot from the developer side of technology. But at least the import within technology should be that you have some sort of product owner or product manager, that’s supposed to be supplying a vision. That person could start thinking about the goal of technology. I know a lot of times within technology, the product manager draws out the user story. So, “I’m a user. I want to ______, so that ______.” And it’s the so that which becomes the bigger element that’s drawn out. But that’s still at a very microscopic level. So yeah, there might be an intersection with the larger goal of technology, but I don’t think it really is used there very well.
Elias: Some of you who have known me for a long time know how much I have struggled with my job and finding meaning in what I do. And a lot of times it was exactly like you described, František. It was like, What am I doing here? What is this for? And I found, at least recently, this sweet spot where I found a lot of meaning in what I was doing. It wasn’t like I was changing people’s lives. But I found this passion to make things better and more efficient. When you are in a large corporation things can be so bureaucratic. And we were able to come in and say, I don’t care how you do it, we’re gonna accomplish this thing. And then you actually get it done. There is a sense of purpose and satisfaction in that alone.
The Creative Value of Work
I would venture to say that your friend, František, is actually doing creative work, co-creative work with God. He may not call it that. But there is something about bringing order out of chaos. I think even in a situation where the user or the developer is not aware, there might be goals happening there that we could appreciate and describe theologically.
For instance, going back to my experience, it might just be the phase that I’m in at work. But I’m feeling a lot of satisfaction in getting things done nowadays. Just simply getting things done. How can I put that theologically? I don’t know. Is that how God felt after creation? But there is something about accomplishing things. Now, if that’s all you do, obviously, eventually it just becomes meaningless. But there is something meaningful in the act of accomplishing a task.
Maggie: And just the sanctity of work too. Your friend, he’s working, he’s doing something. And in that type of work, even though it’s labor, I think it’s still a part of the human telos.
František: Yeah, I think so, even though he thinks that there is no human telos as such. And we keep having conversations, and he still sees something important in the conversations. So that means he still keeps coming to the conversation with philosophers and theologians, even though he sort of disregards their work because he sees it as not relevant to his work. But I think that’s a sign of hope in his heart.
As electors cast their vote today, we can breathe a sigh of relief: Donald J Trump is no longer president of the United States. Let that sink in! I honestly believe that even those who supported the president will not miss his conduct in the office, his tantrums, and undignified tweets. They may miss his policies but most will gladly dispense with his destructive personality.
The last four years have been a long whirlwind of chaos that I hope our nation never returns to. Just not having to deal with his tweets and the consequent media outrage surrounding it has been refreshing. Moreover, we can celebrate that civility is returning to the White House.
My main hope is that a Biden presidency can make politics boring again unlike the intrusive disruption it was in our lives for the last four years. With that said, this cannot be an invitation for disengagement as the work is far from complete. Let us not repeat the mistakes of 2009-2010 when an Obama presidency was quickly undermined by losses in the mid-term elections. While the electorate sat back, radical factions of the right woke up and mobilized. Their efforts would eventually bear fruit in the election of 45. A vacuum of a common cause that unites that country will invite a resurgence of irrational populism.
Listening to the 2020 electorate
How do we move forward? For those inclined, I recently posted a summary of election statistics. I don’t speak here as a progressive but as a moderate person of faith. First, it is important not to interpret 2020 as a mandate for the Democratic party. While the party re-took the coveted White House, the losses in Congress point to an electorate that disapproved of Trump but was not fully ready to ride a blue wave. If there was a mandate, it was for the parties to work together, a task that was all but impossible under the previous president.
In the past years, most of my comments and concerns were with a self-destructing GOP. While much work remains before Republicans become a vestige of the party it used to be, I think the moment calls for a plea to the other side. Biden won with a broad coalition that included moderates in the center along with die-hard progressives in the left. The threat of 45 was enough to bring them together but keeping the coalition together will be a different story. If we are to see Americans regain confidence in our institutions again, here is a place to start.
While Trumpism will certainly not fade away, its influence will be diminished in the next years. The best way to combat it is not to simply denounce it and shame its believers. Instead, it should be by showing a viable alternative that listens to the pain that made so many susceptible to populist lies and responds with effective governance. Sure, the right-wing noise machine will constantly put forth a narrative that undermines any progress that does not align with its narrow ideological shackles. Yet, we must believe that eventually, reality will break through the noise.
Make the Environment Mainstream
One of the greatest losses of the last 4 years was in our care for this earth. Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris accord and systematic dismantling of the EPA can have devastating consequences for the long term health of our nation. It is vitally urgent that these steps are remedied right away. It is encouraging to hear that Biden already signaled a return to the Paris agreement in day one of his presidency. That is a good start but much more work needs to be done.
My plea to Democrats is that they become the Green party. Show the American people that it is not about destroying capitalism but saving it and making it sustainable. Work with Republicans, corporations, and anyone willing to tilt this economy towards sustainability. The COVID reset should be an opportunity to shift the economy towards more equitable, holistic, and long-term thinking. An economic system in which a tree is worth more dead than alive is not just an impediment but the root of the problem. We cannot address our climate crisis until this structural problem is rectified.
As a person of faith, I believe there is no issue that carries as much importance and consequence as this one. The environment impacts all races, ethnicities, and socio-economic statuses. It is not even limited to humanity but affects all of life on our beloved planet. Furthermore, it has the potential to unite us but also the danger of ending our existence if we ignore it.
A Task for All of us
Above all, it requires bold leadership that is able to build consensus across many interest groups represented in our political system. That is why it must be de-politicized. This requires a change of approach from both Republicans and Democrats. On the GOP side, moderate voices must rise up and reject climate denialism. We need conservative voices to participate in this process as government policy will not be enough. Courageous moderates should buck the more radical voices in the party that question the science on this matter.
Democrats, on the other hand, should not use this issue as an excuse to enact progressive policies. They should also be willing to work with moderates on the other side who take this issue seriously. It is important that this issue does not get confused with Socialism but is understood as the transcending matter it actually is. The Green New Deal is a good start but Democrats should be willing to incorporate Republican ideas that can help it make it more effective.
Finally, faith leaders must also do their part. Celebrating “Creation Sunday” once a year won’t cut it. If conservative Christians are militant about life and progressive Christians are passionate about the poor, they both can come together to uplift the planet that sustains life and empowers the poor through its bounty. Christians and people of other faiths in this country should come together on this matter. They can play a crucial role in compelling a distracted society to join in the fight to preserve, restore, and maintain our biosphere.
