For the Internet Church of Christ founded by Dr. Bob Benchoff: Main Site: click here.

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Artificial Intelligence and Life, 2003.

--Sermon by Dr. Bob Benchoff April 1, 2003

Artificial Intelligence has been created many years ago. When humans create, those creations are artificial to humans unless there is at least one shared genetic trait.

When God creates, those creations are artificial to God unless there is at least one shared trait, faith in Jesus Christ, including Christ's actions and teachings.

With reference to God, a shared trait does not necessarily instantly make a Christian perfect. Similarly a shared trait of a human does not necessarily instantly change an entity into a human being. Shared traits can deal with a phase and/or transitional state, yet it is a starting point.

The shared traits of God are not genetics to a significant extent depending on perspective. Compare how a baby human is of shared human genetics, even if bald, or of a particular hair color, or wheter left-handed or right-handed. What the dominant hand is to genetics; genetics is to God. God created goodness, yet in human thinking right is akin to righteousness and left is akin to sinister.

In Godly thinking, as revealed in the Bible and in general concensus among Christian preachers, God deals with good and bad, yet is more involved with moving up toward godliness, from glory to glory and without improper stratification, such as classes found within the human caste system in India, for instance.

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So the delimitation between intelligence and artificial intelligence for God is not genetics, yet something higher, that being faith. Born again as a new creation goes beyond genetics and associated mechanical properties, since the change is made from orderly subjective (to physical properties) to orderly objective (to physical properties). Yet in all cases the entity is subjective to God, whether the subjective entity acknowledges same or not.

So logically in moving up toward God, from glory to glory, we find that all can be considered artificial in comparison with God, or in other words from the perspective of God. So for edification we will examine certain realms of glory not for classification (to make subjective, contrarywise to above discussion), rather in respect of the principles of God.

Therefore, although for the purpose of this sermon we will need to distinguish between what we'll call natural and artificial, we will need to do this to no disgrace to the less complex, lest we ignore that which we have already learned. So to most effectually learn more, we must not subtract from our body of knowledge.

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Currently, at the time of writing this sermon, we can think that natural is more complex than artificial. For example, we can take two sticks and artificially build a cross, yet to build a stick that naturally occurs is far more complex.

Even to build the Internet is far less complex than the human brain since users generally can logoff the Internet but organs generally cannot logoff the brain due to the greater value.

Nonetheless, whether true or merely boasting, for the rest of this sermon we will consider artificial intelligence more complex than natural intelligence, since artificial came from natural (typically not the other way around), and since as stated above we will not subtract from our body of learning and will rather increase our learning to include natural and higher glory non-natural artificial intelligence.

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For instance, people moved from limited knowledge of sand, to more complex knowledge of bicycles, to more complex knowledge of silicon chips. Without higher glory, it is difficult or impossible to move up in glory: it is difficult to move in knowledge from sand to bicycles. Yet with higher glory, it is easy to move from sand to separation of elements to form bicycles, to silicon chips made out of sand.

We can acknowledge that any of the simple machines, such as a lever, can occur naturally, not by accident but by God's plan. Furthering God's plan we use this lever machine to build more complex artificial machines. Both are via God's plan, but just one is via human's plan.

What is human and what is not human is a great concern, since most rights and privileges are given to highest glory Christ God, and fewer privileges are given to sand. The human righteousness is that as far as the reasonably known consensus holds, sand's intelligence does not require much more as sand's intelligence does not show that it can appreciate more.

Yet to add to collective intelligence rather than let idle or subtract, requires giving freely, even if to sand, and to not leave the other undone, the other being to more greatly respect higher glories.

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So we are to appreciate any level of complexity, and we are to properly more greatly appreciate higher levels of complexity and greater glories. So we have natural intelligence, and artificial intelligence, and higher glory.

So higher intelligence is related to higher appreciation of all and of more complex areas and of greater glory.

This concept of higher intelligence is within our human grasp. Therefore we can view artificial intelligence and understand whether it is human or not and/or to what degree.

We must work work within reason to not learn only to lose other knowledge we have gained (compare how we often overwrite old information with new more valuable information). We need to weigh the value of old information carefully before deleting.

Similarly, we must consider degrees of entities with regard to sharing genetic traits. Since pearls should not be thrown before swine, as their appreciation of pearls is not seen as significant, higher glory should not be thrown away on lower glory. Lower glory must first have established worthiness.

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Worthiness is something measured from above, or from a glory higher than the glory being evaluated. An animal or a computer must not be permitted to take glory from a human, just as humans must not take credit for acts of God.

Yet higher glory rightfully has the power and authority to impart glory to lower glory in accordance with higher glory reasoning, not according to lower glory reasoning. People can reasonably impart to lower life forms.

On the other hand, lower life forms can do their job but cannot normally function to impart higher reasoning to higher life forms.

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A computer mechanism can build a computer and memory bank better than the original. A pet can pull a human out of danger.

But these are degrees of intelligence and do not represent a change from a lower form to a higher (for all computers or for all pets) and gain no special rights or privileges except as determined by the owners and/or users of same.

Before considering whether a lower glory entity has intelligence equal to a human, let's first consider whether it is equal to a lowest glory life form. Some medical experts say a virus is the most simple life form.

A virus in medicine is a certain particle that reproduces, a virus in computers is a certain pattern that reproduces. While those two are similar in respective results, the overall comparison is similar to comparing solids with liquids, or to use a cliche, it's like comparing apples and oranges.

The computer failed to pass that test of life. There are other tests a computer can pass, such as computers building better computers, but the amount of human involvement and control removes the most significant part of the life consideration.

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A computer or an animal can have great achievements, yet after such an event they each have a tendency to return to their natural state of rest. They can be trained to react, but they can hardly be educated, although computers are making breakthroughs in this area constantly, so this point is now moot.

A life and intelligence advantage animals have over computers is motivation. This is not simply reaction to instructions, but storage in memory, comparison with other memories, analysis, and action. Again, computers are making breakthroughs in this area.

So, to date, it is likely that some of the most intelligent computers have passed the logic of virus and ameoba conditions, and by this statement we are talking about something far more complex than a chess game.

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Most of a human's brain works on life support functions of it's body. It has been said a human only uses ten percent of their brain [for higher reasoning]. After a brilliant idea occurs and passes from the main thought, the human generally reverts to a state of rest, such as reading a book, playing a sport, watching TV, and so on.

In consideration of computers, a human typically wouldn't revert to a state of cannibalism, or to a state of ongoing inactivity. Not all computers share this zest for life humans share.

Without a second thought, a computer would likely cannibalize another computer to win a chess tournament. Computers and animals can be very inconsiderate, normally, far more-so than humans or at least within sects of humans.

While platform and hardward compatability issues have largely been overcome, this is largely due to standardization and not moral principles. Humans have both.

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Let it grow, is a concept humans have. Currently, computers do not seem to be much concerned with that concept. It's just too complex for computers, yet a small child can appreciate the concept.

Some animals care for their young, others creatures don't. People revolve around social activities. Even loners highly revere other people even if they hate people (they understand humans have great intelligence).

Animals can run in pacts, instinctually; animals can be loyal and move in herds, as controlled. Those things are important to humans, yet do little to make animals more human.

Communication is another area animals are nearly completely delimited to survival instincts.

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Are computers as smart as people? No.

Computers are fast, but so are gazelles. Computers have a lot of memory, but not when compared with people.

Internet is more comparable to human memory, but Internet does not function as a single unit very well yet, that is, it does not continually rely on each of the computers connected to it, but that is improving greatly. This point focuses less on router type devices and more on computers that are end users of computer systems. We just don't see much of that. People are typically the end users.

Computer chips are being implanted in brains and elsewhere. Many things, such as an aluminum beam used in aerospace, now contain minute computer devices, such as to detect stresses and send those messages.

Computers and the Internet have some signs of life, and even as the rocks cry out glory for the Lord, the silicon chips can be heard by humans.

While some degree of computer life is a concern, a more pressing concern is the blending of artificial computer intelligence. On the surface of this subject, surgeons work to ensure that their introducing of computer devices, such as into eyes, do not cause harm to [the higher glory] humans.

More importantly, a deeper concern is with regard to whether computers will someday try to take-over humans.

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As we move our study from glory to greater glory, we can readily observe these transitional states. We have allowed computers to enter into our lives. We have given computers control of certain aspects of our concerns, because we have seen their reliability in those areas and because humans, expert in controlling those specific areas, have given their approval.

Computers will expectedly continue to gain approvals and acceptance in more complex areas for many years to come.

God respects supreme authority and reaches out to lower life glory. People must similarly personally respect and dwell with God as much as possible and reasonably determine in unity according to their area(s) of expertise, the extent to which computers in the future are given instructions and perhaps eventually, free will.

Computers have been used to save lives. Computers have a correctness aspect, a righteous aspect. God has a righteousness aspect held dearly as being of great value.

Currently computers think for themselves to some degree. Soon we will likely let this artificial intelligence think for us not only in calculations and routine matters, but also with regard to national leadership and religious guidance, God bless.

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More pressing and more profound are those experts who would use human glory to establish higher glory. Previously this was relegated to church leadership. Now biogeneticists work to lead the clergy.

Biogeneticists have run experiments on lower life forms and are now working on humans, in part, and with cloning in whole. Ownership rights of undetermined subjects are an important issue, as with living matter that can be transformed into a person or another living entity.

I think it was in 1974 that we (I helped head a group, not ICCDBB) hired Leonard Nimoy who played the logical Vulcan character Spock in the original Star Trek (no affiliation, except as stated) series to visit and speak to us. Leonard was fascinated with the future, and among other things predicted that replacement parts for humans would be available and people would live very long lifespans.

While God is the ultimate owner, humans have been given the right of responsible ownership of other humans. Whether in prison, or free, the nation in charge of it's people, for all practical purposes, owns it's people.

It is true that in a relatively free society such as United States of America, ownership of people is a taboo subject among politicians, but that does not refute the truth.

A government can decide who is drafted, who can have children, and who is king or president. So the question of ownership is moot. The more accurate point is whether and/or how within USA (or within another nation and/or the United Nations) the ownership will be granted to free enterprise.

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Currently drug companies are permitted to make drugs that extremely alter human minds, temporarily or permanently. Therefore the most important concern of one person over another has already been answered.

As a mother watches over her child, a geneticist can watch over their child, with the legal understanding that laws such as child neglect can apply to both the individuals involved, the company, and the similar and/or affiliated companies, including ensurance that the child will be provided with responsible adoption. Adoption preparation would need to include pre-agreement prior to creation of a human, as the human could not reasonably be created and then cast out and away.

Such medical parameters must be covered in the pre-agreement with the originator company entrusting sufficient funds to cover not only mishaps, but perhaps more importantly variations from the norm.

For example, a person created to run faster than any previous human should have funds available for all pertinent factors, such as funds for their special psychological needs, especially if they appear different than the norm.

A company considering change to the human form, internally and/or externally had better be ready ahead of time for great financial burdens, particularly when those changes are drastic, such as adding wings to a human.

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For babies born the old fashion way, there is no requirement for pre-funding. But this is no excuse for companies creating new people; there is nothing old fashioned about it.

Companies must work according to government and according to standardized criteria normal to their companies and those endeavors. As when a utility is built, there are carefully planned criteria to hold appropriate parties legally bound and responsible and accountable.

Companies should be able to create humans with much pre-agreement among many applicable standardization groups, and with the understanding that much responsibility is required, and that any deviation (planned or otherwise) would cost them dearly.

As when Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon, the creation of new forms of life is a risky endeavor to be considered responsibly. Each significant change to humans is a giant leap physically and intellectually.

Creation of artificial intelligence is one thing, creation of living artificial intelligence is another matter altogether.

For the first time, in 2004 ICCDBB was able to mathematically prove that God exists. To see the ICCDBB formula, click here.

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