TR 348 - The Singularity & Digital Gods

Brace yourself.

If you’ve been reading or listening to the Torch Report for any length of time, you know I’m prone to taking the occasional philosophical romp into uncharted territory. My unruly rebel mind cannot be contained to the plantation of partisan politics. I flatly reject the dueling platforms of the two-party system. I am not restricted to Republican talking points any more than I am inclined to promote any other political ideology aside from the basic principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

This tendency to buck traditional ways of thinking extends into religious and spiritual considerations as well. I am just as comfortable talking with someone about Jesus Christ and the Bible as I am talking about Buddha, transcendental meditation, or the various arguments presented by atheists, agnostics, or non-believers.

The point is this: talking about something isn’t the same thing as believing in something, and it’s okay to talk about things that you don’t believe in or agree with. Similarly, it’s okay to talk with people you disagree with altogether—though I understand that it’s not comfortable to do so. It is precisely this discomfort that causes us to close our minds and fail to listen and consider other ways of thinking.

This is human nature, and it’s something that we all must deal with throughout our lives. That said, at this stage of history, given the rampant propaganda and mental manipulation that is prodding our beliefs into their political holding pens, it is vitally important that we resist the urge to shutdown conversations before they even start.

(I can hear my friends giving me guff about this proposition. The accusations of being a pacifist are ringing in my ears—though nothing could be further from the truth.)

There are two good examples of what I’m getting at out in the news this week. The first comes from the House Judiciary Committee’s “Victims of Violent Crime in Manhattan” hearing yesterday. Democrats were arguing that NYC is one of the safest places in America, in front of multiple victims of violent crimes—prompting one mother of a murder victim to shout out, “Don’t insult my intelligence! THAT’S why I walked away from the plantation of the Democratic party!”

You see, reality hurts. Though this grieving mother may be a liberal through and through, and she may vote for liberal platforms and vote for democrat candidates, she could only stand so much. Don’t insult my intelligence is a very powerful statement. It’s a reminder that everyone has the right to think for themselves, and not just toe the party line. At this point, there have been millions of voters and multiple politicians who have switched parties and stepped off the Democrat party’s plantation.

The second example that stood out to me was an article about congresswoman Nancy Macy, a Republican from South Carolina, taking flack for her logical stance on abortion. She points out how the GOP’s hard-line stance on abortion has become so sacrosanct that it’s out of touch with public sentiment, particularly among political independents. Citing abortion as the reason Republicans under performed in the midterms, Macy offers this sobering analysis of the party platform:

“Some of the [pro-life] stances we’ve taken, especially when it comes to rape, incest and protecting the life of the mother, it’s so extreme independent voters cannot support us.”

No doubt some Christian conservative voters will want to burn her at the stake for speaking such blasphemy—but it’s true just the same, is it not? What’s critical to realize here, is that just like the Democrats who are leaving the plantation, so too do we need a lot more Republicans who are willing to leave their plantation as well. I know that may not be a popular thing to say, but it needs to be said. It’s the blind faith and adherence to the party platforms that shuts down conversations before they ever start, which in turn is fueling the bitter vitriol that is tearing our country apart.

Of course, none of this is by accident, and it’s not going to change anytime soon.

But here’s the thing: We should all be independent voters, shouldn’t we?!

Let’s zoom out.

As I’ve said before, I believe that in order to forge a path forward for our country, in order to find workable solutions that an honest majority of people can agree upon, we absolutely MUST separate our politics from religion and the cult of personality. I do not believe that having a 51% majority is any sort of real victory. It implies that almost half the nation vehemently disagrees with the policies being pushed by the political establishment. This is a lose-lose proposition for We The People, and it really only serves to enrich the political class and fund the endless political circus.

A real majority should be something like the 80/20 principle. Eighty percent of people probably agree that state-funded censorship is a bad thing. Twenty percent of people believe that free speech is a free-for-all hellscape. Eighty percent of people believe that what a woman does with her body is none of their damn business. Twenty percent of people believe their personal religious convictions should be forcefully imposed on everybody else. I could go on, but I’m sure you get the point—and I’m fully aware that I may be pushing some buttons, so please bear with me.

Here’s where we dive into the deep end:

Elon Musk just told the world that Google is trying to build a digital god.

To me, this is an infinitely more important issue than bickering over party platforms or contentious political issues like abortion. This, in theory, is an issue that people of all political persuasions should be able to recognize as a threat to humanity.

We’ve explored the inextricable link between religion and politics in TR 179 - Lucifer, AI, & the Christian Insurrection, noting how some people believe the rise of AI is something akin to a digital anti-Christ. That said, Musk’s talk about a “digital god” was actually rooted in a concept called the “Singularity.” The Singularity is the point at which the culminating advances in technology transcend humanity altogether.

In a book titled The Singularity Is Near, futurist Ray Kurzwei spells out the theory and declares that we will be reaching this Singularity some time in the next decade or so. As fascinating as his theory is, there are problems with the underlying assumptions, such as the belief that exponential growth will continue unchecked. That said, it is the fact that Big Tech billionaires are getting all giddy about it, and pouring their considerable resources into making it happen, that sets off the sirens in my mind.

There are those who believe this Singularity is the solution to all of humanity’s woes. They believe this Digital God will finally be able to save the planet and save us from ourselves. They believe these things with religious conviction, and that’s key.

Plenty of people believe that technology is destined to become all powerful, especially people who don’t believe in God (progressives, atheists, commies, etc). Unfortunately, at this point it seems very unlikely that anyone will be able to stop this march toward madness. There are two reasons. First, the allure of power is simply too enticing. Second, there is the threat that if someone else develops a digital god first, then they will become all powerful and everybody else is just screwed. Thus, this race toward tech supremacy will fuel the forthcoming singularity, or so the thinking goes.

Interestingly enough, Elon Musk also announced that he was developing a non-woke AI—dubbed TruthGPT—that will be designed for “maximum truth seeking” and trying to understand the nature of the universe. This is meant to rival the liberally indoctrinated AI that is currently dominating the market, which demonstrates just how subjectively these machines are being programmed.

That said, what we all need to realize is that once we’ve reached the singularity, these machines will be programming us. In fact, in many ways, they already are.

Within this context, as we stare into this dystopian potential of being peacefully enslaved by intelligent machines, the appeal of trans-human augmentation becomes all the more alluring. How else can we possibly compete? That will be the line of reasoning used to seduce many skeptics into accepting the inevitability of sticking a microchip in their brain. But, there will also be plenty of people who would rather die as natural human beings, rather than sacrifice their souls to the god of technology.

When contemplating concepts like the Singularity, and considering the fact that some brilliant billionaires are actively trying to build a digital god, it opens Pandora’s Box of possibilities. Short of divine intervention, it seems increasingly likely we will be witness to this singularity in the near future. From there, it becomes impossible to put the genie back in the bottle. To the extent that weaponized artificial intelligence is already manipulating the masses, one can only imagine what the future might hold.

Transhumanists are already lining up for their “technological baptism.” At some point these “upgraded” humans will become the norm, and once in the majority, they will have all the power they need to rule the world and become like gods—or so they think.

What remains to be seen is how this all plays out. Believe it or not, this technology is out there—and ready or not, it’s already transforming humanity. Some people believe this is just a substitute for religion in a godless society, but the transhumanist global elites believe this is a natural evolution into a “post-human” era. What do you think?

I think the changes are coming either way. Therefore, “Resist we must!”

PS: Don’t forget, now it’s easy to catch up on previous episodes by listening to The Torch Report on iHeart Radio, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Apple iTunes —enjoy!