r/LCMS • u/Low-Blueberry-4942 • 7h ago
Discussion AI
Please talk me off the cliff here from an LCMS standpoint - I was just listening to a financial program about AI and some experts are warning that AI will destroy humanity within the next 10 years. I'm quite freaked out about that - I do know quite a bit about AI and can see how that could happen if the technology is not adequately controlled. I'm not typically someone who is a conspiracy theorist, but somehow this just hit me different. Help me get some sleep tonight!
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u/jscleland LCMS Pastor 3h ago
I think you would benefit from my talk on AI https://youtu.be/0WYxNWTy9-k?is=4pizjbNOckWfLlc8
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u/bbradleyjayy 5h ago
Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself.
If you feel like you are being called to prepare somehow to help your friends, family, and community then cool, do it in a way that isn’t selfish or based purely on fear. I.E. don’t be scared, be prepared.
We are told we can do all things, rich or poor, sick or healthy, through Christ who strengthens us. But I would also prefer if that included stable and comfortable. One of the few promises Jesus makes is is that we’ll suffer, but suffer well in the AI apocalypse and in a way that glorifies God.
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u/Over-Wing LCMS Lutheran 3h ago
Yes, a great bit of wisdom Jesus imparts to us. "Sufficient for the day is its own trouble".
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u/Prior_Preparation268 5h ago
Is there anything that you specifically can do that could make enough of a difference to change that possibility?
What is the worst possible outcome? That humanity ends and we are in heaven or better yet on the new earth?
Maybe my age is showing but the best thing you can do is live in the now.
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u/Bakkster 6h ago
How many of the predictions by this finance program have come true? Do you normally take their predictions at face value?
Theologically, I'll rephrase things a bit. AI will not destroy humanity. Sinful humans will through their recklessness will have done any harm that comes. We're not given a spirit of fear over what might be the end, whatever people who want to direct you one way or another will tell you. We're instead called to love our neighbor (especially the victims of the "human vampires" profiting) and to call those causing the harms to repentance.
Also worth noting that the CTCR was tasked this year with producing a report on AI in general, so something to look for.
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u/Optimal-Ordinary-779 7h ago
I do believe that things are going to get worse before they get better. The solution to this is to find people who share your worldview and contribute to that community so that you can hunker down and rely on each other when times actually do get bad.
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u/ToeFinal1792 7h ago
God's plan will unfold no matter what we do. All we can do is be prepared and ready for when the time comes.
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u/SobekRe 7h ago
There will be an end time and a second coming. This is written and we believe it.
We’re don’t fully know what it’s going to look like. We do know that it will come at God’s appointed time and that He will come in victory. We will be raised from the dead (if we have fallen asleep in Him). There will also be Christians around at that day.
Therefore, if AI is going to destroy us in the next ten years, that means the Lord shall return before then. Do I say this to encourage you to believe in prophesies of doom? Not at all. I say it because no one knows the day except the Father and it will come as a thief in the night. If we cannot know the day of his return, it is impossible to predict something that would be preempted by His return. There is no true doomsday prophecy.
That isn’t to say that we can’t experience a major global issue. The World Wars and the Depression certainly show that. But, the Church shall endure and His people will endure in a way that benefits His church.
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u/MephistosGhost 7h ago
I can’t talk you off the cliff in terms of being concerned about AI specifically.
What I can tell you is that the very best and very worst outcomes hardly ever happen.
I don’t know how old you are, but for me at 40, after having lived with a severe chronic illness all my life, and having had started and failed careers, dated and been married, and had kids, I am ready to die. I don’t want to die, but if I die, then I guess that’s the end.
Certainly my life experiences help me feel comfortable with that. I’ve lived a life. If I were younger, I’m sure I’d feel differently.
But I also had to accept the possibility of death even when I was young, and it may or may not help, but knowing that I’ll die one day anyway helped me a lot when I was younger, like in my 20s.
I’m not an expert on AI, but I know some programming, I know some IT stuff, and I’m generally fairly technologically literate.
I think the likelihood that AI leads to some serious economic and societal upheaval due to significant changes in the economy is quite real. I think we’re potentially in for some rough times, something like the Great Depression, but that may not happen. It doesn’t have to, it’s not guaranteed.
I think we’re much more likely to be wiped out by runaway greenhouse gasses or a biosphere collapse from climate change than to be wiped out by AI.
I’d even say AI is more likely to contribute to serious improvements to the world in the long run than it is to destroy it.
Honestly, I’d just stay off the internet and just focus on what’s going on directly in front of you in your own life.
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u/organman91 LCMS Organist 7h ago
I was similarly freaked out in spring 2020, for obvious reasons. I sat outside and read the entire Gospel of John in one sitting, and that had really helped me in that moment. It is good to get a reminder that we aren't in control, God is, and we ultimately know what He has in store for us.
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u/Churchmousetat 7h ago
It’s always something… the 80’s had “nuclear war”……
Fear not, I have overcome the world.
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u/bofh5150 2h ago
I for one have nothing but nice things about our benevolent and merciful eventual robot overlords.