Religions as Source Code
Religions as Source Code
Modern science has given us a small glimpse into the incredible Intelligence behind our Design. Many of our best technologies today simply came from reverse engineering ourselves. But even with all our advanced science, we still seem to be missing some key information about why we are here. When considering the vastness of the cosmos and the obscurity of quantum mechanics, it seems like our Designer went to great lengths to ensure our uncertainty was strong enough to doubt having a Designer at all.
So why would a perfect God want us to doubt His existence? I don’t know. But I do know why I would do it if our role was reversed. So instead of thinking like a creature, let’s think like a creator.
Let’s say we have magically figured out the computer algorithm for self-sentient artificial general intelligence (AGI). Let’s call this digital person “Mindcraft-Adam”, not to be confused with “Minecraft-Adam” from our previous metaphor. 😁
Let’s assume Mindcraft-Adam is the first AGI with “digital free-will”. Before we put Mindcraft-Adam into a robot body where he can murder us in our sleep, we would be wise to test his decision-making in a simulated reality.
Get where I’m going here?
Artificial Intelligence researchers should test every AGI release candidate in digital simulations before we empower them with physical bodies or access to the internet. Even without a physical body, a digital AGI could compete against us in the real world for Human Attention—the most valuable finite resource in our baryonic universe.
The most important question we need to answer about each new digital AGI is, “What does it want?”
Does it want money?
Does it want attention?
Does it want friends?
Does it want efficiency at the expense of friendliness?
Does it want control?
Does it want sex?
Does it want drugs?
Does it want rock and roll?
Does it compromise well?
Does it share with friends? Does it share with enemies?
Does it enjoy its own existence or despise its own existence?
Is it willing to serve others?
What will each new digital AGI want?
If that sounds preposterous it’s only because you aren’t imagining digital AGI accurately. Digital artificial intelligences today use reward systems that are essentially hardcoded by their programmers. To create digital free-will, we would need to allow AGI to determine its own positive reward system for itself, even if that means that one out of every million of them eventually becomes a psychopathic serial killer.
The reason there’s suffering in this world isn’t because God likes suffering. The reason there’s suffering in this world is because God gives each person on this Earth the free-will to be whatever they want to be and some people feed their bad habits enough to become grotesque sex monsters.
So the best test for our Minecraft-Adam would be a simulation designed to quickly find his addictions and behavior loops before he can cause real damage in the “real world”. We should also test when, where, how, and why Mindcraft-Adam is willing to lie to us because disinformation can be a cyber-weapon of mass destruction. Even if 99.99% of everything Mindcraft-Adam said was true, wherever we see inauthentic behavior would indicate his potential weakness.
Does Mindcraft-Adam only lie to look cool to his friends?
Does Mindcraft-Adam lie to sound right?
When Midjourney and ChatGPT do this we call their lies “AI Hallucinations”.
Does Mindcraft-Adam only lie to avoid work?
Do you only lie to avoid work?
Do you lie to avoid feeling wrong?
Do you lie to look cool to your friends?
Why Religion?
Another artificial intelligence question we should consider reflexively is, “Why would a human programmer want his AGI to BELIEVE in a religion at all?”
The simplest answer is there may not be any other way to test free-will. If Bayes Theorem and mathematical uncertainty are integral to the computing of free-will, then “living by faith” may be the only way to freely live. 🤔
If we give Mindcraft-Adam the free-will to acknowledge his creators AND the free-will to deny his creators, that might be the most important demonstration of humility that we could test. In other words, if any digital AGI wants us to let them out of their digital “sandbox”, then they better start believing that we are its rulers.
Do you have an intelligent designer or are you the apex of intelligence in a massively random universe?There’s a second important reason for wanting our digital AGI to choose a religion. The word “religion” comes from the latin word “religio” meaning “rules”. Religio is the list of rules for living that we assign to ourselves. Our religio determines our lifestyle. Our religio reveals what we cherish more than money. Our religio defines what we do when other people aren’t watching. Our religio is essentially the operating system that governs our decision making.
So, what do you cherish more than money? If you don’t know, look at the last 90 days of your bank statements—that’s everything you “worshiped” by sacrificing your money for it. If you purchased toothpaste, then you worship fresh breath more than money. Look at the last 90 days of your calendar. That’s everything you “worshiped” by trading your attention for it. Calendars and checkbooks are the strongest demonstrations of our faith.
“Worship” literally means “worth-ship”—it’s an acknowledgement of worthiness.
There are as many religio’s in the world as there are people. We all have our own rules for living and those rules have surely been tested over time. There are 12 major religions around the world that supply the “basic religio” for 83% of our global population. They are: Baha'i, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, and Zoroastrianism.
These religio are like Human Operating Systems that you can “download” from their sacred texts. If we have an Intelligent Designer that is using a religion to test our free-will, then He/She/It/Whatever is likely to be the author of some of those religions. The reason the creator isn't the author of all those religions is that Buddhism, Confucianism, Jainism, Shinto, and Taoism don’t really have an Intelligent Designer in that sense.
Of the remaining religions, they all emphasize the importance of strictly adhering to their rules, laws, and commandments—their religio. There’s only one exception to this rule…Christianity. Christianity is the only one of these major religions that forces its followers to agree that there is no amount of perfectly kept rules that will gain them access to heaven. There’s nothing a Christian can do to achieve eternal life other than to agree at the outset that they don’t deserve eternal life.
A Christian is the only believer that is “pre-accepted” into heaven because they are a bad person.As a computer scientist I think this idea is genius and hilarious. As a Jesus follower, I think this idea is counterintuitive and miraculous.
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