Category Archives: Ideology

Fighting the machine

2021-02-13 spamagnet

After watching “The Social Dilemma” on Netflix, I began to think more about how AI is impacting our lives and communities. While I don’t think it’s as simple as saying “Big Tech is evil,” I believe we are seeing the fruit of a laissez-faire policy around AI.

Digital technologies — and especially the internet — have given large companies the tools to deploy AI as a tool of psychological warfare. Unlike typical warfare, however, the goal is not destruction, but profit. This confuses our pro-business society, because profit is generally considered good.

Besides, in the past (we tell ourselves), people have been able to adapt and learn defenses against disinformation and seductive advertising — the solution is education, not regulation. (Because obviously “regulation” is a dirty word.)

Many years ago, everyone assumed that computers would never be able to beat humans at chess — a game that requires strategic thinking, and intuition. Computers with insight and creativity? Ridiculous.

Yet it turns out it’s possible to simulate some aspects of organic brains, and hone them to a peak of capability unmatched by messy biology. As a result, the number of people in the world who can beat a modern computer at chess is vanishingly small — perhaps only the top 10 in the world. The average person has zero chance.

The folk song “John Henry” tells the legend of a railroad construction worker — presumably the best of the best — who raced against a new-fangled steam-powered drill. In the end, John won the content — and then died of exhaustion and stress.

It’s the perfect metaphor for this unequal battle we find ourselves in. For that machine was not self-existing; there was a human wielding it — and an entire team of humans who designed and manufactured it. John Henry may have won a pyrrhic victory for humanity (huzzah!) but the next day, that team got busy designing the next generation of drills — and the next, and the next.

The idea of a rematch today — a human with a sledgehammer going toe-to-toe with a modern pneumatic jackhammer is quaint — perhaps good for a few laughs and a middling viral video on YouTube.

So why do we think we can match wits with the machines and win? Because in this contest, we won’t even know when we’ve lost.

Church, Ideology

Is it any wonder?

2018-08-04 spamagnet

Is it any wonder that Western Christianity is failing? Since the Enlightenment we’ve been trying to prove that the Bible is 100% true, inerrant, and infallible — in the historical/scientific sense. A good example of this, of course, is Answers in Genesis. But it has crept into our church culture in more subtle ways.

Years ago, a Christian classical school opened in our city and we were very excited because we believed strongly in the trivium — the three-fold path of learning that follows the developmental process of the child. They also believed in Sola Scriptura, but what harm could that do?

Too slowly, however, we realized that there was a deeper worldview at work: the “clear teachings” of the Bible superseded any fallible human knowledge. Psalm 51:5 says, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me,” then clearly all negative behavior in an infant or toddler is sinful and must be punished. The headmaster of the school would slap his infant’s hands when he threw food off his high chair. They paid lip service to child development, but clearly regarded it as suspect in the light of original sin and total depravity.

We finally left the school, but not until a great deal of damage had been done to our children’s faith.

In this worldview, there is no such thing as interpretation; the Bible is extremely clear on almost every topic. Any human knowledge that contradicts it is therefore immediately suspect if not obviously ideologically motivated. The very idea that we may need to periodically re-examine our interpretation of the Bible is liberalism, secular humanism, and so on.

In this way, Western Christianity has reduced the Bible to a set of flat cerebral statements of fact to be accepted, instead of a majestic story that can penetrate us to the heart and transform us from the inside out.

Over centuries — and especially since the Enlightenment — we have gathered a great quantity of scientific and historical knowledge about the cosmos, the history of our planet, and the human psyche. Not surprisingly, this knowledge has diverged from what a “flat reading” of the Bible tells us. There are even fringe groups that still believe in a flat earth and physical firmament! Even the hard-core Young Earth Creationists disavow them, though they must use impressive mental gymnastics to explain why their own beliefs are so different. And why do they believe this? Scriptural authority.

Like most younger people, our children have grown up in a post-Enlightenment culture, and accept the scientific consensus on global warming, evolution, the age of the earth, and so on. When they encounter the Bible — and Jesus — in this environment, they see nothing but an rigid alternate reality. This alternate reality claims that it has never changed; that it based on God’s unchanging, perfect, inerrant, and infallible Word.

And yet, history proves them wrong; during the American Civil War, many churches believed that slavery was acceptable because of Scriptural authority. In our own city, many church splits took place because of this. But now, you will be hard-pressed to find a church that believes the Bible justifies slavery. Why? Our interpretation changed. But could our current interpretation be incorrect? Of course not, because we aren’t interpreting.

These younger folks are faced with this rigid alternate reality, plus the history that puts the lie to it. Is it any wonder that they reject the whole affair?

Ideology

Learning from the Holocaust

2018-01-28 spamagnet

On January 27 of each year, we remember the Holocaust. We vow to never forget the 6 million Jews, plus hundreds of thousands of Romani, disabled, and homosexual people who were slaughtered by the Nazis. For the most part, being anti-Nazi is not controversial. The question is, have we learned the right lessons?

When political leaders (generally of the opposing party) propose a policy that we feel strongly about, many of us jump straight to comparing them to Hitler. On the Internet, this is so common that in 1990, Mike Godwin coined the adage that asserts that “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Hitler approaches 1.” (This is commonly referred to as Godwin’s Law.)

On the one hand, this is only natural — we have a deep-seated horror of those events. As members of what we think of as a civilized culture, we rightly think of Hitler and the Third Reich with horror, vowing that “it could never happen here.” It is unthinkable to us that millions of people remained silent and did nothing to stop it. That many people just “did their jobs,” and were quietly complicit. That many bought into the propaganda hook, line, and sinker.

But Godwin’s Law also makes it difficult to have an honest discussion about the fears we have about policies that strike us as being on that slippery slope to such horrors. If you mention Hitler or Mussolini you’re automatically The Boy Who Cried Wolf. We all know that fable — but how many of us know the flip side: Cassandra? In Greek mythology, she was given the gift of true prophecy; but was also given a curse that no one would believe her.

The problem is that Hitler didn’t start by slaughtering millions. He started by exploiting resentment at Germany’s treatment after WWI, as well as an anti-Semitism that had been smoldering since the days of Luther. Having a clear enemy to demonize, fear, and blame can be a powerful weapon to unify a people. When people are angry and afraid, they are susceptible to manipulation through propaganda.

As a nation, we are at a crossroads. Despite our prosperity, simmering anger and fear seem to be rampant. Our politics are more polarized than ever, and we have lost trust in many of our institutions. By and large, our mainstream media is more interested in clickbait headlines and controversy than nuance and understanding.

I pray that we will be wise enough to take heed of the past.

Church, Ideology, Satire

The dangers of theistic water cyclism

2017-08-03 spamagnet

What is the Water Cycle?

The water cycle is a atheist-scientific “theory” that rainfall is caused by a completely naturalistic process involving evaporation, condensation, heat, and air currents.

What did the ancients believe?

They believed the plain teaching of God’s Word in verses such as these:

Deuteronomy 11:14

“If you carefully observe the commands that I’m giving you today, to love the LORD your God and serve him with all your heart and soul, then he will send rain on the land in its season the early and latter rains then you’ll gather grain, new wine, and oil.”

Job 5:10

“He gives rain on the earth and sends water on the fields…”

Matthew 5:45

“… so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

Jeremiah 14:22

“Are there any among the idols of the nations who give rain? Or can the heavens grant showers? Is it not You, O LORD our God?”

There are many others. They all clearly show that it is God who sends — and withholds — the rainfall, and not some impersonal, random, natural process. Nowhere in the Bible can you find any indication that rain comes anywhere from God Himself.

Reality Science vs. Water Cyclism

But wait, you say, can’t we reproduce evaporation and condensation in a lab? Yes, we can! That’s called experimental science. Even a child at home can see this demonstrated when boiling water, or seeing the drops of water on a cold window when it’s humid outside.

But has anyone actually seen a water molecule ascend to the heavens and descend again as rain? No. Because it can’t be repeated in the sky, it’s not experimental science.

Can the water cyclists (professionally known as Meteorologists) predict rain with any accuracy? If you’ve ever watched the weather forecasts, you will know that they cannot. They are never even close. This shows clearly the faulty thinking that comes from believing that simple evaporation/condensation can explain rainfall.

Yet still the water cyclists claim that God is not in control of the rain!

Theistic Water Cyclism and Christians

The essence of theistic water cyclism is “God started the water cycle and he is still watching over the rainfalls and storms.” Regardless of any good intentions, theistic water cyclists twist Scripture and weaken the fabric of biblical doctrine.

Theistic Water Cyclistic Assumptions

In theistic water cyclism, the Bible is regarded as a collection of documents which partially contains God’s Word. The Bible thus contains no authoritative, binding truths, but must be freshly interpreted and corrected for every era and in every situation.

God in the Water Cycle?

Christians who adopt water cyclism are inconsistent because they are accepting the foundation of the humanistic worldviews. Essentially, they are telling God that they believe Him when He told us about the Virgin Birth, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Christ, but they do not trust Him when He tells us about how He sends rain to the world.

Compromise in Christian Leaders

Some respected Christian leaders, famous for defending the fundamentals of the faith against compromise, were guilty of their own compromise. None of us, including any particular scholar (no matter how respected he is), or even the majority of scholars or Christians, can be the final authority for determining truth. God’s Word must be the authority.

Thanks to Answers in Genesis and God of Evolution for the idea.

Church, Ideology, Satire

Helpful translation of global warming article

2017-07-31 spamagnet

I recently ran across this fascinating article entitled Why Christians Can’t Believe in Man-Caused Global Warming. It’s was a bit long so I thought I’d take a few minutes summarize its contents for you.

The author seems to use “leftists,” “liberals,” “socialists,” “Democrats” and “anti-Christians” interchangeably throughout the piece, so I will just use “Leftists” for clarity.

Here we go:

Christians believe humankind is God’s all-time favorite creation because He tells us so in the Bible. But leftist/socialists often known as Democrats think humans are an evil, toxic blight bent on destroying the planet through heinous activities like gassing up our cars. Boom. This is the war of the opposing worldviews going on today and it’s worldwide. It encompasses every important issue including man-caused global warming.

Translation: Leftists hate humanity and this caused them to make up global warming.

Leftists think homo sapiens started out as a random blob of cells zapped by electricity (no word on where the cells and electricity came from without a primal source such as God) that evolved into a greedy, evil animal with the magical ability to control the climate. Never mind that we can’t control or even predict tsunamis, earthquakes, or next week’s weather — all we need is a few computer models and a religious faith in our own brilliance to foretell the temperature 30 years from now.

Translation: Leftists and scientists can’t be trusted.

Arrogant leftists who think that by banning the earth’s homemade fuels like coal, oil and gas they can control the climate should heed God’s challenge to Job: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Have you commanded the morning since your days began, And caused the dawn to know its place…Have you entered the treasury of snow…By which way is light diffused, Or the east wind scattered over the earth? Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That an abundance of water may cover you? Can you send out lightnings, that they may go, And say to you, ‘Here we are!’? Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like God?” (Job Ch. 38: 4-5, 12, 22, 24-25, 34-35, Ch. 40: 8-9)

Translation: God controls the climate, period, and if anyone thinks otherwise, they are arrogant Leftists.

God uses some divine sarcasm to school us that He alone, not man, commands the weather, from the snow and frost to the wind, rain and lightning. Get over yourselves, measly humans; I’ve got this, He says. So Christians aren’t worried if the climate changes. It’s obvious to us that God set up natural elements that shift the climate over the eons from warmer to cooler and back again in historically well-known cycles. Just a few decades ago the big panic was global cooling that would freeze the planet in its tracks. The latest raving lefty bugaboo is global warming. Big whup.

Translation: Human’s couldn’t possibly cause climate problems because God is really powerful.

Leftist non-believers who call God a bearded sky-monkey ignore that ten years after Al Gore’s dark warnings, literally none of his predictions have come true: no islands have drowned; nor have the huge populations who were to die from rising seas or heat-blasted crops actually expired; the polar ice caps not only stubbornly refuse meltdown but ironically their ice is so thick it traps climate research ships. And the polar bears are just fine, in fact thriving.

Translation: Al Gore (and other Leftists) was wrong about some things.

Despite NASA scientists finding global temperatures have only increased 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880, despite Al Gore and the UN’s serious errors in promising massive climate disasters, despite the fact (from the U.S. Geological Survey among others) that only .038 percent of earth’s atmosphere is actually carbon dioxide so to reduce it would be totally futile, liberals insist that carbon fuels must be eradicated to save the earth. Since those fuels drive economic prosperity both here and in desperately poor countries, the leftists who like to think they’re compassionate “progressives” are really in the most basic sense anti-progress and anti-poor people.

Translation: Al Gore and the UN (and other Leftists) were wrong about some things. Leftists want to us to stop using fossil fuels and they don’t care that poor countries would get hurt.

Christians aren’t worried about climate change because they hold the biblical view that God has a master plan that favors His human children: “’For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,’ says the Lord, “thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.’”( Jeremiah 29:11- 13)

Translation: God will not let bad things happen to us.

The Lord God even considers His human creation so special He made us “in His own image…male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27) Shocking: a Supreme Being so politically incorrect he thinks there are only two genders!

Translation: I’m mentioning genders for some reason.

We are the only creatures God made as images of Himself, sharing with us some of His spirituality, His ability to love, to forgive, to reason, and to live creatively. Human consciousness is inarguably different from and far more advanced than that of animals. While God clearly thinks humans are very special, the left reviles us as just another animal but more irredeemable and deplorable; they think dolphins are a superior species.

Translation: God made human special, but Leftists hate humans.

Yet we’re so special that God entrusted us to “have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:28 This includes dolphins. Lefties’ heads explode in thunderous volleys over this one. “Dominion” is defined in the dictionary as “power or right of governing and controlling” — anti-Christians insist that God here gives evil man permission to despoil and demolish the planet.

Translation: Leftists think it’s okay with God to destroy the Earth.

But of course this is nonsense; why would a person bulldoze his own home? We are to be caretakers and good stewards of the planet. God meant we should care tenderly for his creation as a farmer tends his crops or a rancher her cattle, horses, and sheep. But because we are in charge of the animals we can also eat them.

Translation: Actually God wants us to take care of the Earth. This includes eating animals, which is relevant somehow.

When the Creator gave humans the duty to protect the animals he made, He gave Christians even more responsibility as environmentalists than non-believers can ever claim. Of course, humankind can, and sometimes has, been derelict in our duty and we must strive to do better.

Translation: Christians care way more about the Earth than Leftists.

But notice God never gives man dominion over the climate: over the skies or the rain or the thunderbolts, or the atmosphere’s greenhouse gases. God makes it clear He will take care of all that. In the beginning He very carefully calibrated earth’s atmosphere to support life. The atmosphere contains 99 percent oxygen and nitrogen. A bit more or less and earth would be uninhabitable. Carbon dioxide is only a trace element like about a dozen other gases.

Translation: God never gave Man dominion over the climate, therefore Man cannot possibly affect it.

Christians know that God makes generous provision for His creation, in ways unbelievers never grasp. Is it an accident of evolution that the earth provides a free, all-you-can-eat grass buffet for the herbivores that depend on it, while those animals in turn supply the carnivores with entrees? And could it be that God in his pre-planned genius placed the dinosaurs and plants here millions of years ago so their carbonized remains would eventually give us humans the carbon fuel we need to run civilization, thereby improving our lives?

What a crazy idea – that God actually wants the best for us.

God is likely very pro-carbon since the coal, oil, gas, and water power He gave us took His humans out of their caves and huts, transforming their meager camping-out-all-the-time existence into the miracle of modern prosperity. Carbon fuels have introduced us, via electricity, to the joys of cooking, heating, air conditioning, dishwashers, microwaves, flat screen TVs, computers, and car road trips, to name just a few.

Translation: God deliberately created neato fuel so would be able to use it for all kinda of stuff.

But I don’t think God is in favor of the “renewable energy” of wind and solar because turbines and solar collectors are murder machines for the precious birds that God wants us to protect. Millions of them have been sliced and diced by the turbines and scorched to death by solar panels. Big problem, greenies. Plus they need carbon fuel back-up.

Translation: God hates renewable energy because it kills birds!

To believe global warming will destroy the planet you have to believe that God placed a carbon poison pill in His creation that would lead to human prosperity and then to human annihilation. But God promises us good, not malevolence. So we answer: “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” Psalm 24:1 And we’re good with that.

Translation: God wouldn’t have made this neato fuel for us if was going to cause a problem. Case closed.

So there we go. An airtight case with impeccable logic and intellectual honesty. Plus some verses from the Bible.

Enjoy!