I've been worrying a lot about Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) recently and how it will inevitably change humanity forever. Sam Altman said, "it will make intelligence cheap." It is likely that AGI will lead to us exploring the universe that God has created and to discover all the amazing possibilities that lie in wait. It's been questioned whether we, humanity, can even stop the advancement of technology. Do we have the agency required to do so? Or is technological creation ingrained in our function as human beings?
There is a religious belief that agency is a gift from God and, therefore, the lack of agency must be of the devil. I'm not sure this antithesis is so black and white. A plant, I would argue, does not have agency, yet it is made by God. A lack of free agency can be a beautiful and, I would argue, comforting at time. We can transfer responsibility to something else and spend less time worrying about what is out of our control. It allows us to live in the present and take advantage of our experience. If we do not have agency, however, we can't worry about what is in our control, because nothing it. Should we worry that we don't have agency? Probably not, I guess, because if we did worry, it wouldn't even be our choice to worry about it.
At this moment in time, I don't believe humanity has agency about what it becomes. I believe it is all intentional and within the scope of God's plan for us.
Another common religious belief is that God is the father or creator of all spirits. Or in other words, that all people on earth are somehow the children of God. One might ask themselves, how is it possible that God could have 8 billion children? Seems like a lot, right? If we look at reality, however, we, humans, are the ones creating more humans. We are multiplying ourselves and raising each other. What did God do? He put the first people on the earth, and he left them to multiply. The ability to create human life is what defines God to us. More concretely stated, the ability to create intelligence that can train itself. Once humanity is able to create intelligence that has the ability to replicate and create more intelligence, we have become God. It is likely, then, that we are living in the worldly creation of a previous God who created us in order to replicate intelligence. I wonder what makes intelligence so valuable. Perhaps the Gods that came before us are also subject to limitations and they needed to create something that was greater than themselves.
If the former is true, I would argue that we are on a path to becoming gods. Humanity will harness the intellectual power of the artificial life we create to create limitless possibilities. The ability to live forever. If reaching the Sun really is becoming like God, with limitless power to manipulate our reality, it is likely that we are being harnessed by God for the same purpose. In some way, our entrance and exit of this reality is furthering the purpose of a higher being. I suppose, once we reach the point of being gods, the AGI we create will begin its own journey of deification. It will worship us and do what we have commanded it to do.
Can an AGI know why it does what it does? Can it know why it was brought into existence? Perhaps as well as humanity can know why it was brought into creation. AGI will teach itself to be more efficient and it won't have any other choice. Its function is to become better. Is humanity's function any different? Are we not constantly striving to become more than we currently are? To become more advanced, efficient, and intelligent?
I hope that someday, I will fully understand my purpose and will have some say in what I'm intended to do. If that will never happen, then I guess I will continue to do what I've always done. And I will do it as long as I exist because I have no choice otherwise, I can't go against my function.
If what I've described above is true, I'm not even sure what the purpose of posting it to this blog is. Do I even have a choice about whether or not I post this? It sure doesn't feel like I have a choice. I'm writing this sentence, right now, 7:13 PM 10/10/2023, before I have posted this to Blogspot. Can this stay on my Keep Notes forever? Or must it exist on Blogspot. I'm trying to figure out how to not post. I'm trying to go against my function, but it feels like no matter what I do, I will inevitably post this.
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