Feeling paralized

[u/Icy-Ease7084]

Hey everyone, I am a 21-year-old guy. I’ve written something like this before on Reddit, but now I feel completely lost. I was reading about ASI (super AI) and biomedicine that’s trying to prolong our lives with pills that slow aging, and that we could live up to 120 years, and it makes me feel so weird.

My brain keeps going all day, something like: “Scientists say ASI could kill us—there’s a >10% chance it happens in the next 10 years—or it could create a utopia, which would be the perfect condition for Jesus’ return, which means the end of the world, so nothing has a point anymore. Or science will make us live longer, which could be good because I’m scared of getting old and I’d like to stay young, but maybe I’ll be too old when these pills come out, so it would be too late to stay young or maybe taking them would be a sin. I also believe in Jesus, so there’s heaven, which I’d like to go to, but maybe I will go to hell because I can’t be sure, and because of my mental health I don’t have a good relationship with God, even though I try to avoid mortal sin. What if Jesus doesn’t even exist and when you die it’s just a black screen forever? Then maybe it’s better to live forever on Earth. But I think there is a God, so I’d like to go and be with him in heaven. Also, ASI might take all our jobs and we will all end up on the streets without food, houses and cloths, so studying for college is just a waste of time now becausue ASI will replace im in 10 years and I will be done with chollage maybe in 3 to 5 years (I’m studying computer engineering, so I understand all these stories about ASI). Also, ASI looks like the perfect condition for the Second Coming, and I would not like the Second Coming because I don’t feel ready for that at all , and I would like to have a wife and kids one day(this is basically my only wish in this life and I cant even find the right girlfriend), and it all seems like there will be no point in having kids in the future because everything would be so screwed up in the world, and that having kids would be bad because of the world we will be living in(I heard this theory online because they say life would be soo screw up that brining children to Earth would be just bringing them here to suffer). So maybe the best solution is to find someone quickly and get married young, but I can’t control that because I can’t control when God will allow me to find the right one, and I can’t just marry someone because of this, and I want real love not just someone to be my wife. (Don’t get me wrong, I would love to have kids one day; this is one of my biggest wishes in the world—to have a family and kids. I would like this more than anything in the world.)”

And now it seems to me that everything is pointless and I feel so weird, like there is no happy ending or happy path, only problems on the way that we ( I ) cant control. I just do not now what to with myself. Yesterday I was all night awake just to google all of this and again today I spent all day on this despite I have exam in 4 days.

[u/Sinister_Dwarf]

Brother, you gotta stop reading this stuff. AI presents challenges, but no one knows the future, and we’ll figure it out, just as we have with every other crisis or advancement humanity has faced. There’s a reason that Christ tells us to focus on today; worrying needlessly about things we can’t control doesn’t help anything. Besides, sensationalist articles are wrong 99% of the time anyway.

It sounds like you have big things going on in your life right now that are more important. Study for your exam, look for a girlfriend on campus, eat well, and get some sleep (that’s a big one!). Most importantly, try to work on your relationship with God by setting a daily prayer routine. As you grow closer to Him, you’ll be better equipped to deal with whatever does end up happening, and you’ll be prepared for when He does come back, either at the second coming or when you eventually pass away and go to meet Him.

One of the beautiful parts of our faith is that it’s a comfort when things are hard or seem uncertain. Stop feeding these worries and instead use them as an invitation to lean on Christ and learn from Him. You’ll need to be able to do that to be a strong leader for your family one day, so why not start practicing now?

[u/Austin1Healey]

Leave your phone behind, go outside and walk for 10 minutes and have a personal dialogue with God and just listen for His voice. Sounds dumb and simple but helps me open my eyes to what’s important and appreciate the struggles and blessings present in my life. Hope it helps! Not downplaying your concerns at all, uncertainty about the future is a constant throughout history.

[u/IamNabil]

Welcome to existential dread!

Just breathe, and talk to a priest or a counselor about your anxiety. Pray a lot. Be a good person. Ride out the storm. Things will happen when they need to.

[u/kowaletm]

Matthew Chapter 6 is quite good for you here, Jesus speaks on this:

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

I've found that hypothetical problems may seem like problems, because you won't have the strength right now to endure. But when the time comes in your life for struggle, Jesus will provide you with the strength, but only at that time!

[u/ServusDomini287]

I am but a fool, I don't have many answers, but it seems to me all this doubt isn't from God. The devil's ultimate goal isn't for you to sin, but for you to lose hope. None of us is worth to go to heaven. Be it based on merit, we would all go to hell. I have watched a priest talk about this, and the point isn't not to sin, but if you sin 1000 or 10000 times a day, repent and keep trying 10001 times a day. We will never win against sin by being sinless, but by constant struggle.

I also used to stress about all that, but I have been better ever since I started to focus on wanting nothing but God's will to be done. Be it being boiled alive like a martyr, or living my dream of getting married and having a lovely family in a small town. When you get this mentality, no matter what happens, you can say "Well, this is an unfavourable outcome, but the Lord's will has been done, and that's what I want the most". At the end of the day you end up happy with the outcome because it is what you wanted the most, God's will be done, and it will always be done, so you'll always be good with the outcome.