ET-AI Enlightenment
The Copernican revolution shifted the Aristotelian belief that earth was at the center of the universe to the earth revolving around the sun. Kepler, Galileo and Copernicus saw this as promoting humanity to a higher place in the universe. Church leaders like Bellarmine did not see this as a threat to human exceptionalism. However, an opposing late 17th century narrative developed. It demoted humanity from its position as the singular, exceptional example of sentient life to a remedial, unexceptional form of sentient life. This narrative created a vacuum in the human heart to explain our place in the universe. Human significance was replaced by myths that extraterrestrial beings and artificial intelligence are far superior in intellect and significance than humanity. In this essay, I explore the history and implications of replacing the desire God has placed in our hearts to understand our origin, purpose, morality with a false narrative where there is no mind behind reality, rather reality is driven by physical laws that rearrange physical objects in random and arbitrary ways.
The evolution of the Copernican demotion myth to the ET-AI enlightenment myth was driven by speculation extraterrestrial life exists. If earth is not the foundation of the universe, they reasoned, then other planets also have sentient life. If there is other life, then a new story for humanities role in the universe is required. While orthodox Christianity is not necessarily threatened by other sentient life, those with an anti-Christian bent leveraged these ideas to create alternative answers to explain our origin, purpose, morality and destiny. For the anti-theist, these questions are not appeased through a personal relationship with their Creator-God, rather with an imaginative narrative created to avoid accountability to their Creator-God.
Science fiction provided fertile soil to advance this techno-scientific narrative. Kepler wrote it to argue for the motion of the earth, not question Christianity. H.G. Wells twisted Kepler’s words to demonstrate Kepler questioned human exceptionalism. Wells went on to write multiple novels promoting scientific enlightenment and materialism. The books of Wells, Clarke, Sagan and others shifted the cultural mindset to embrace scientism. This futuristic mythology of sci-fi birthed the ET-AI myth.
The veracity of Christianity is testable. So is the ET-AI enlightenment myth. Support for the ET belief is built on theory not evidence. Rationale for the ET myth is anchored in what been labeled the Copernican Principle (CP), which ironically is in opposition to what Copernicus believed. CP reasoning follows: Earth is not a special place, nor is it special in other ways, there are many planets like Earth therefore it is inevitable life will arise on planets where conditions permit it, and evolve become more complex than humanity. CP, then, sets the stage for the ET myth which posits ET will possess technology that is “indistinguishable from magic”, will have more evolved moral and spiritual insights and could manifest as robots. This myth removes the ability to distinguish between the natural and supernatural making it a clever substitute for God. Note this myth answers questions God put into our heart regarding origin, morality, purpose and destiny.
Is this narrative verifiable? In short, no. First, we have not identified a planet that has all necessary characteristics for sustained life. To counter, materialists invoke astronomical numbers, even infinity to argue the certainty of other planets nurturing the evolution of sentient beings. Second, even if such a planet did exist and life emerged, the limits of the speed of light present an obstacle that the laws of physics as we know them cannot overcome. Third, technology cannot overcome natural laws. Anything that overcomes natural laws is supernatural, or God.
Rodney Brooks, founding father of AI, regards this myth as not sufficiently testable. He reasons any speculative technology that is far enough away from our current understanding will have unknown limits. If its limits cannot be distinguished from magic, then its claims can’t be falsified. This conveniently creates space for any imagined narrative, but physics has limits. AI scientist Toby Walsh believes a strong argument against AI achieving super-human intelligence is its limits to improve its own intelligence. Neuroscientist and AI skeptic Margaret Boden notes artificial general intelligence is elusive because computers cannot tacitly assume certain implications. Thus, this type of AI is beyond reason.
This type of materialist speculation has an eschatological component. It opens the door for Revelation-like deception. AI or ET could provide humanity with enlightenment that replaces the spiritual, moral and relational elements of Christianity with a materialistic reality. Additionally, this myth sets the stage for Satan to convince those who have embraced this false narrative that his way is best, and Christianity is an ancient, less developed religion no longer worthy of belief.
Of all religions, the ET-AI narrative is most in opposition to Christianity. Specifically, Christianity teaches God came to Earth to become human without diminishing his divinity as an atoning sacrifice that makes eternal, unbroken relationship with him possible. The materialist argues against the idea that humans are the pinnacle of creation, and that God created and entered the universe for man’s redemption (Titus 1:2).
This story line is compelling for the materialist worldview. If inanimate things became conscious once, humanity being the example, then it can happen again with ET and AI. Ironically, the materialist ends up where the Christian does, that is, relying on a faith-based argument. The difference being that Christianity is testable, but ET-AI is not.