Former Google engineer wants to develop an artificial intelligence deity

Since people and their gods have not yet managed to create a paradise on Earth, would it be cleverer to “bet on” a machine god?

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This was exactly what Google’s former engineer Anthony Levanovsky, who founded the religious group -sect (heresy) would call it the old times- the “Way of the Future”, who wants to create a deity of artificial intelligence in order to take over to improve society.

So some, like the millionaire businessman Elon Mask of Tesla and Space X, may fear artificial intelligence like hell the incense, but others like Levadovsky are deify it.

The mission of the new techno-sect, as stated in its founding charter, according to the British Guardian, is “to develop and promote a deity based on artificial intelligence and, through the understanding and worship of this deity, to contribute to improving society”.

Levodovsky is at the center of a legal dispute between Uber and Google’s Waymo affiliate. He was co-founder of Otto’s autonomous driving company, which was acquired by Uber in 2016. He was then fired by the latter amid accusations that he had stolen trade secrets from Google to develop Otto’s autonomous driving technology.

Despite all these adventures -or perhaps just because of them- he found time and dedication to create the “Road of the Future” team.

However, the study of history shows that the emergence of new technologies and scientific discoveries in the history of mankind actually had “side effects” in the local religions, often eliminating the old gods for the benefit of some more modern ones. For this reason, the Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari, a writer of the Greek translated and world best-seller  “Homo sapiens”, considers it highly likely that in the 21st century revolutionary technologies will “bring forth” new religious movements.

Already, various “minds” of Silicon Valley in California, the cradle of new innovations, consider a matter of time the emergence of a momentary moment in history, “singularity”, when artificially intelligent machines will outnumber people in cognitive abilities.

Mask can warn that “with artificial intelligence we basically invoke the demon”, but techno-utopians see that people will finally conquer (digital) immortality by “loading” a copy of their brain and mind into a machine.

Some -usually Protestant- Christian theologians prefer to see artificial intelligence with a positive eye, just as another technology that people invented under the eternal guidance of God.

Some others, like Levadovsky, who are not satisfied with the “performance” of God or humanity (with so many evil and sinners around us), consider a more attractive idea of ​​faith in a new deity more rational and capable to make the world better. Somehow, with a small mental and psychological leap, one can attribute divine qualities to superhuman mechanical intelligence – and pray for its ubiquitous presence and infinite wisdom …

Source: www.cnn.gr