How Should Christians Think About Being Human?

Today on Thinking Christian with Dr. James Spencer. AI, you know, doesn't have the full capacity of human thought, at least not yet. And I would just suggest that even if it did develop the full range of human thought that we can do, that still shouldn't make us feel inferior to AI. So one of the things I've been sort of suggesting to people is that, you know, we've lived in a world where there are a number of different species that are already stronger than us, faster than us, you know, more adaptable to certain environments than us. And that doesn't make us feel less human. And so even if AI outpaces us in one or multiple sort of mental activities, we shouldn't feel less human. I think part of what we're dealing with as we think about this sort of inferiority complex that can come up is that we really don't understand what it means to be human and how thought and rationality and consciousness and all of those kind of ideas that we think about when we may, that are often associated with AI, really relate to what it means to be human. Well, there's a scene in the popular television series Chicago Med where the chairman of the hospital board has touted and financed an AI equipped operating room called OR 2.0. All was well and OR 2.0 was a viable collaborator with the star surgeon, Dr. Crockett. And then a routine surgery, which seemed to go well until the patient dies in recovery, gave everyone reason to pause. Turns out 2.0 showed a lesion on the patient's screen that really wasn't there. Other docs got suspicious and looked up the data and found the data was missing. In order to protect the continued funding of 2.0, the chairman of the board kept a thumb drive of the botched surgery. Then he told Dr. Crockett it was the doctor's error. And yet colleagues pressed the issue, got the thumb drive and analyzed the data, revealing that 2.0 had a design flaw. And the CEO deliberately tried to blame it on being human. So what happens when AI makes a mistake? Is there grace? And can it happen where AI causes a fatality or an accident and that gets blamed on the human? And what are the legal ramifications there? You know, I think we need to be careful as we sort of think through these scenarios. Part of what I see as the challenge of artificial intelligence is an over-anthropomorphizing of artificial intelligence. In other words, we're making this a more human thing than I think we probably should. And so we have dealt with mechanical failures for a long, long time. You know, this has been a staple of the car industry, of the airline industry, you know, distinguishing between mechanical and human error is not something that is foreign to us as a human species. We recognize that the technologies that we use, the machines that we build, often fail. And they fail for a host of different reasons. AI is really no different than that. And if we continue to think of it as sort of a more human than it actually is, I think we're going to get ourselves into some real problematic areas. And so there are a number of analogies that are used with artificial intelligence that suggest that it is more human than it might be. So we often apply the word, and I'm guilty of this too, I think it's just sort of lazy speech. But we'll apply words like think or respond or, you know, we'll talk about a neural net, right, which technically are biological or human terms. Ultimately, we're applying them to the AI. And I think that that's skewing the way that we view it. It really, AI is nothing more than a machine. It is not imbued with a spirit. It's not imbued as, you know, it's not the image of God. It is not something that has consciousness. And I think there are good theological reasons and biblical reasons to think that it never actually will be. And so however closely it approximates some of these things, a lot of these questions that are being asked about how do we deal with X, Y, or Z, how do we deal with, you know, AI when it fails? Well, those are things that we actually have precedents for. We have precedents for machines that fail and how we distinguish between that failure and human error. And so I think we need to be careful as we move forward into the future of AI not to make this very unique innovation, this very powerful innovation into something that it's not. It is still a technological and mechanical tool. It may be a bit more than that, right? I would admit that tool probably doesn't capture exactly what AI is. 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It's still not human. It's not something that could be held, quote unquote, responsible for its actions. It doesn't have agency in the way that we do. And so we have to be careful about how we think about these things. So in the scenario that you're discussing, you know, this sort of fictional AI that gets something wrong in surgery, it's just a mechanical failure. And probably the way that everybody should respond to it is just to say, look, we're going to relook at the processes of how we are depending on this AI to make sure that the next time there's a mechanical failure, we don't fall prey to it. That we're going to minimize the risk of a mechanical error causing human death or, you know, just, you know, difficulties in surgery, for instance. And we're going to make sure that our processes are such that we are highly reliable in the treatment that's given and that we have checks and balances within the process so that the AI isn't just driving things, but that it is influencing things and that the surgeons are using it in a wise way. So I think there's a, you know, I want to be careful about, you know, alerting people or suggesting that we're dealing with a new sentient being. We're really not. We're dealing with another mechanical technological tool and platform. And we need to use it in a way similar to the way or analogous to the way that we've used other mechanical instruments and making sure that we check it to the best of our ability to know that it is going to give us the accurate sort of information and perform in a way that is going to serve the utility that we're employing it with. You know, as we've mentioned before, you know, the difference here is God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created him male and female. He created them. Genesis 1 27. We've talked about this before. Humans are created to be creative. How does that work in the context of AI? Well, I think two things. Yes, humans are created to be creative. That is, I think, a true statement, but we have to understand creative in a very particular way in order for that to be true. Humans are not intended to be creative in the same way that God is creative. We are to be creative imitators. Our job as humans is to reflect God. That's part of what it means to be made in God's image. And and so even though that image is marred after the fall, what we are called to do is really imitate Christ. And in doing so, there is a creativity involved in that. So it's a creative imitation in the context of AI. I think that to the extent that AI opens up human creativity, that there may very well be benefits to AI to the extent that it opens us up to, you know, taking care of tasks that maybe take us a bit too long. Right. In the same way, like a calculator helps us with long division. Right. AI has the potential to take care of some of those things that we could do on our own, but that are going to take us much, much longer than it might take an AI. And so we.

You have to pick and choose sort of where we're using the AI so that, and I think this is the key question that Christians need to be asking ourselves, am I using AI to enhance my humanity or in my use of AI, am I diminishing my humanity? And that humanity has to do with creativity, but I would also say it has to do with intimacy with other people. It has to do with, you know, the way that we, for instance, visit the orphan and the widow. You know, one of the things I've been thinking about a good bit has been the parable of the Good Samaritan. If you just take that parable of the Good Samaritan where this gentleman has been robbed, he's laying on the side of the road, beaten and bloody, and the actual physical Samaritan comes along, sees this other human being, picks him up, carries him to somewhere where he can be cared for and pays for that service. There's a lot of skin in the game that the Samaritan puts in. It's a very flesh on flesh activity that he does. And it conveys the message that Jesus is trying to get across, who is my neighbor. But if you rewrite that story and you think, well, maybe it's just the Samaritan's artificial intelligence robot that's roaming down the road, and it signals the Samaritan that there's someone who's been robbed on the side of it, and the Samaritan says, well, if it's not too much trouble, go ahead and take care of that person. It gives that story a whole different feel. And it disassociates humans from humans. And so we've got to be very careful as we move into this AI world that we are not disconnecting from other humans, that AI is allowing greater connection with other humans, especially from a Christian perspective, that we can be more like the good Samaritan using AI. Let me ask you a serious question. If something triggered a major market drop in the coming months, would your retirement be ready or exposed? With inflation, market volatility, and ongoing global uncertainty, more families are taking a closer look at whether their retirement plan is truly built to hold up. And many are finding that adding a layer of protection makes a lot of sense. Sanctuary Metals is a Christian owned company that helps families strengthen their retirement savings with physical gold and silver through a gold IRA. During uncertain times, many people look to precious metals as a way to add stability when other assets may be under pressure. If you'd like to explore whether a gold IRA is a good fit for your situation, Sanctuary Metals makes it easy to get started. Text GUIDE to 94878 to receive your free retirement defense guide or call 888-958-6579 to speak with one of their knowledgeable team members. Again, text GUIDE to 94878 or call 888-958-6579. Not less like the good Samaritan using AI. And then we have a God who wants a relationship with us. I mean, from the very beginning. Then the Lord God formed the man out of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. As it says in Genesis 2-7, God breathes creativity out of breath. He creates a universe from his breath. He speaks us into existence. If the word is God-breathed, we are God-breathed. How does this make humans a high-functioning machine? I don't actually think it does. I think applying machine language to humanity is, you know, again, sort of blurring lines that we don't want to blur. Humans are human. And there are certainly analogies that have been made between humans and machines. But I think that's more because what we're creating with machines and devices of various sorts, it's often a reflection of who we are as humans. So if we take AI as an example, you know, AI is a reflection of our ability to do computational thinking, to reason through various data and understand what's happening there and to come up with sort of logical conclusions that our brains are able to comprehend. Now, AI could do that faster than we can. It can compute in a much, you know, quicker fashion with more data, massive amounts of data, actually. And so to that extent, that's great. But it's still a reflection of who we are as human beings. And we aren't high-functioning machines. We are humans made in the image of God. And so we're a different thing than AI. We're a different thing than anything else we might look at. You know, it's almost like saying, you know, just because a horse can walk, a horse is like a human. That's true to a certain extent. But we also recognize that there are vast differences between us and horses. And I think that as we move into artificial intelligence, we have to recognize that even though AI can do something we can do, doesn't mean that we are less human and it is more human. Now, here's an interesting sideline here. In post-World War II, there was this piece of new psych and a study at Berkeley done on creative types. They asked journalists, artists, musicians, authors, and filmmakers to stay in bungalows. And they studied their creative process. The result was to create a creative class, if you will. It introduced Timothy Leary and illusionary drugs like mushrooms to see if these creatives perform better under the influence. And the result, it was as subjective as looking at a piece of art and everyone sees something else. To be human is to be creative. And that means all of us. Not a creative class versus a non-creative class. James, I tend to look at creativity as creating something that is of worth, that is useful to God and people. We like to say around here, if the essence of writing is rewriting, then the essence of being creative is recreation. Can you program a machine to create something that is useful to God? And is it the same thing as a creative being who using their gift and talents to be useful to God? When we come back, James will answer that question. And we will have more from Thinking Christian on Live Audio. Hi, I'm Dr. Michelle Bankson, a board-certified clinical neuropsychologist and host of your Hope-Filled Perspective podcast. After 30 years in the mental health field, I am passionate about helping you regain hope and transform your life. Join me and my amazing guests as we tackle real-life struggles with compassion, vulnerability, and biblically-based insights. If you're ready to renew your mind and find practical solutions to life's most common concerns, subscribe now on your favorite podcast platform.