Is it a bot or a human? The internet is a place where you can’t really tell for sure, and technologists debate it. Follow — the account that appeared out of nowhere and appeared to have keen inside information about impending breakthroughs in so-called “artificial general intelligence” or, more ominously, so-called “artificial superintelligence,” drew immediate replies from the likes of Sam Altman.
But what could be a more powerful incentive to succumb to that temptation than a “digital god” created to provide a massive, infinite simulation of those very feelings and experiences?
A detailed investigation into @iruletheworldmo’s mysterious origins is already underway. A trip down the rabbit hole of digital heresy A (relatively) brief introduction starts with this basic information:
- Q* (Q-Star) — Q* is a secret project code that Open AI and others have alluded to as a sort of secret sauce algorithm that will be incorporated into their next generation models. From summaries like this post, we know that Q* represents a blend of reinforcement learning and heuristic search to improve AI’s problem-solving abilities, especially in complex logical tasks. This represents a move toward more human-like reasoning and self-learning capabilities, which could lead to improved reliability and generalization of AI systems.
- Strawberry — As the model is trained and nearing release, hype grows and a new association between Q* and Strawberry emerges. Strawberry appears to be the street name for LLM.
I managed to get a follow from an account full of tone-deaf strawberry emojis. It was already clear to me that @iruletheworldmo was committed to the idea that humanity was about to be fundamentally transformed by technology built and/or controlled by the account owner, so the reaction to my reply was post These are the words of St. John Climacus, the great monk, theologian, writer and author of the highly influential manual of ascetic spiritual instruction, The Ladder of Ascent to God.
“Many have been saved without prophecy, or revelation, or signs, or wonders, but without humility they cannot enter the marriage chamber,” the kingdom of God where union with the Lord awaits. This statement elicited no response. Posts“I am Moloch, the destroyer of worlds.”
But that’s not what I want to warn you about here, because in addition to the Moloch post, @iruletheworldmo also posted, “Jesus would want UB. Almost certainly.” UBI stands for “Universal Basic Income,” and has been touted since pre-AI times as a way to get closer to universal justice in our world.
Not coincidentally, recently Revealed Altman’s OpenAI has funded a major study of UBI that has been more mixed than positive, but Altman himself has publicly declared his support not only for UBI but also for what he calls “universal basic computing,” a conceptual rival to the “Second Amendment for computing” that I and others have been arguing for for the past few years.
As mentioned above hereOpenAI wants to register GPUs in the same way that anti-gun politicians want to register firearms. Laid out As part of a broader Digital Rights Amendment, this bill would stop that and thwart the ruthless centralization and control over how increasingly powerful computing power can and cannot be used.
Altman and @iruletheworldmo’s approach to computing also incorporates Altman’s creepy and sometimes outright illegal methods. World CoinIt’s essentially the imposition of a new cyborg identity on everyone as part of an overall global reckoning.
While this future may cause anxiety and fear for most of the world’s normal humans, the real problem is made clear by that awkward reference to Jesus. I’ve said before, half-jokingly, that it sounds like Altman is auditioning for the role of the Antichrist. The attempt to link Jesus with UBI, and indirectly with Universal Basic Computing, highlights what is at stake.
Now, this point is a bit technical, but it’s important: as digital technology pushes us more and more into theological territory, we’re going to need to get more comfortable with these kinds of things.
Keeping in mind that “God’s Ladder of Ascension” emphasizes how demanding a successful, righteous, and true spiritual life is, Ascetic Regarding discipline and practice, a much later theologian, Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov, wrote in the 19th century against a completely different spiritual guide that was becoming popular in the West, Thomas à Kempis’s Imitation of Christ. The problem with that guide, he pointed out, was that it “leads the reader directly to communion with God without the purification of repentance” and “leaves him in ecstasy and exultation without difficulty, without self-accusation or repentance, without the crucification of the passions and desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:24), without flattery to his fallen state.” Imitating the Lord is impossible without first of all exercising ascetic discipline, which in turn always depends on resisting and denying the seductive desire to become spiritually worthy of elevated feelings and ecstatic experiences.
But what greater incentive could there be to succumb to temptation than a “digital god” that would replicate those very feelings and experiences on a massive, infinite scale? Many mistakenly believe that the archetype of the Antichrist is the one who most closely imitates the devil. In fact, the Antichrist, or any antichrist, seeks power and authority by replacing and eliminating God, all while appearing to give people what they want from God.
In other words, the Antichrist Simulate Christ. And in a world where automated, all-simulating computing is touted as the completely transformative AGI or ASI, the temptation to simulate Christ will be enormous, for believers and non-believers alike.
“Let us be warned from this,” wrote the visionary Father Seraphim Rose, “that the religion of the future will not be a mere cult or a sect, but a powerful and profound religious orientation absolutely convincing to the heart and mind of modern man.” Contrary to our earthly desires, according to St. Nectarios of Aegina, “we have deep-rooted weaknesses, passions, and shortcomings, many of which are hereditary; they will not be suddenly corrected, but will be gradually corrected.” [but] but rather with patience and perseverance.’ Bots and humans who try to manipulate technology to change us from the divine form in which we were created by God to something else will bring about annihilation, not salvation.
