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Will technology change what it means to be human? You don't have to be a computer scientist to have discerning conversations about artificial intelligence and technology. We all wonder where we're headed. Even now, technological innovations and machine learning have a daily impact on our lives, and many of us see good reasons to dread the future. Are we doomed to the surveillance society imagined in George Orwell's
1984?
Mathematician and philosopher John Lennox believes that there are credible answers to the daunting questions that AI poses, and he shows that Christianity has some very serious, sensible, evidence-based responses about the nature of our quest for superintelligence.
2084 will introduce you to a kaleidoscope of ideas:
- The key developments in technological enhancement, bioengineering, and, in particular, artificial intelligence.
- The agreements and disagreements that scientists and experts have about the future of AI.
- The key insights that Christianity and Scripture have about the nature of human beings, the soul, our moral sense, our future, and what separates us from machines.
In straight-forward language, you'll get a better understanding of the current capacity of AI, its potential benefits and dangers, the facts and the fiction, as well as possible future implications.
The questions posed by AI are open to all of us, daunting as they might be. And they demand answers.
2084 is written to challenge and ignite the curiosity of all readers. No matter your worldview, Lennox provides clear information and credible answers that will bring you real hope for the future of humanity.
List of contents
Preface
1. Two Big Questions: Humanity: Where from and Where to?
2. Narrow Artificial Intelligence---The Future Is Bright?
3. Narrow AI: Perhaps the Future Is Not So Bright After All?
4. Upgrading Humans
5. Artificial General Intelligence---The Future Is Dark?
6. The Genesis Files: What Is a Human Being?
7. The True “Homo Deus”
8. Future Shock: The Return of the Man Who Is God
Appendix: Christian Transhumanism?
About the author
John C. Lennox (MA MMath. MA (Bioethics) PhD, DPhil, DSc, FISSR) is Professor of Mathematics (Emeritus) at the University of Oxford and (Emeritus) Fellow in Mathematics and the Philosophy of Science at Green Templeton College, Oxford. He is author of a number of books on the interface between science, philosophy, and theology, including, God and Stephen Hawking, Determined to Believe, Can Science Explain Everything? and Cosmic Chemistry: Do God and Science Mix? Prof. Lennox is a widely recognized public intellectual who has engaged in numerous debates with public figures such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Michael Ruse, and Peter Atkins on questions at the interface of science, philosophy, and religion.
Summary
In response to recent popular accounts, scientist and philosopher John Lennox offers a Christian perspective on humanity's future with technological enhancement, bioengineering, and AI. Here is a thought-provoking, controversial, balanced, and engaging account of the problems raised by AI and the atheist conception of what it means to be human.
