The tidal wave of technological advances that swept us through the twentieth century, crash-landing us onto the shores of this millennium have been almost universally hailed as both unstoppable and overwhelmingly beneficial. They have fuelled the increasing confidence of the new atheists with their theories to explain everything, reducing God to a quaint folklore memory clung to by the ignorant. Science will give us answers, technology will drive us into a shiny new future, humanity will be bigger, brighter, stronger, more powerful.
Except that as I write this we are in lockdown. The forward momentum of our given certainties suddenly seems shaky. Yes, science and technology will be vital in the management of this pandemic, but so will love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and selfcontrol. As we come, once more, to terms with our inherent vulnerability, so perhaps we might re-learn what it means to be made in the image of God.
Which is one of the lessons I picked up from John Lennox’s 2084. Reading it now, it feels like an apocalyptic book for apocalyptic times. Taking his cue from George Orwell’s 1984, as well as other dystopian fiction, such as Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and Dan Brown’s Origin, alongside the writings of Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari, Lennox explores the survival of God and humanity in a world dominated by test tubes and microchips.
Charting the development of intelligent machines (AI, artificial intelligence) and AGI (artificial general intelligence, machines that can simulate human intelligence), Lennox clearly unpacks the centrality of algorithms in their ‘thought’ processes. There are many areas, such as medicine, in which they are generally beneficial, with computers examining large quantities of data and discerning problems far more quickly and efficiently than human doctors.
But spectres of dystopian fiction lurk in state surveillance, the curtailing of freedoms and manipulation of the media, while reliance on technology pushes us into passively sleepwalking through our lives. In these scenarios an elite few marshal the tools to subjugate the many. Further down the road we reach the world of The Matrix, where intelligent machines enslave or eliminate biological humanity. Throw transhumanism into the mix, the upgrading of humanity by slowing ageing, augmenting intelligence, adjusting the genetic sequence to select for or against certain traits, grafting on advanced prosthetics, and we might be en route to the creation of a ‘God-man’, Judge Dredd or Tony Stark in his Iron Man persona.
These possibilities raise pressing questions not only about what it means to be human, how technology is changing that meaning, and the ethics of AI, but also about the impact of these developments on belief in God and whether we are being led to a technological paradise or the pit. Like Rowan Williams in Being Human, Lennox is clear that reductionist arguments equating human brains with biological computers are hopelessly flawed in trying to offer an adequate definition of consciousness.
This doesn’t deny the many benefits of our interconnected world. During this current period most of us will feel blessed by electronic tools that have kept us informed about the rapidly changing situation, in touch with our families and work, and have enabled us, in some form, to worship and study together. But I share Lennox’s trenchantly stated concerns about potential deleterious effects on human values, personal privacy and liberty; equally, questions abound concerning our capacity for worlddestroying violence and creating disparities between the few and the many.
In response Lennox offers his own reading of biblical literature, from Genesis to Revelation, demonstrating its relevance for reappraising such issues. Although his argument will not convince those who reject Scripture as having authority, it will nevertheless resonate with many Christians, giving them biblically forged tools with which to test whether we are travelling a scientific and technological route that is good for our society and our souls.
Beginning with an exposition as to why a Creator is necessary for creation’s existence, and closing with how Paul’s ‘man of lawlessness’ and Revelation’s apocalyptic visions might illuminate the shortcomings of AI, he demonstrates his understanding of Scripture as underpinning a radical reappraisal of our technological future. Central to this is Christ, the true God-Man who is God embodied in a man, dead, risen, returning. This, as he persuasively argues, is the antithesis of the ‘uncertain quest to enable humans to become gods’, for in Christ God has already become a human being, and in doing so has given us an exemplar of complete, fulfilled personhood. As he concludes, in comparison with this personhood everything artificial will always fall short, and it is in fellowship with Christ that we will find both our true identity and our true destiny.
John C. Lennox is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the University of Oxford and Emeritus Fellow in Mathematics and the Philosophy of Science at Green Templeton College. He is also an Associate Fellow of the Said Business School, University of Oxford.
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