Church of the Almighty Algorithm
“Microsoft Bets $1 Billion On the Holy Grail Of AI (Artificial Intelligence)”
- Forbes Magazine
“Within Silicon Valley, AGI is a kind of religious argument. You’re either a believer, or you’re not.”
- Chris Nicholson, cofounder and CEO of Pathmind
Silicon Valley is getting religion. The new messiah is Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), superhuman intelligence in a machine. Armed with Artificial General Intelligence, a machine can do everything a human brain can and much more. It would operate independently without supervision and master new skills without training or guidance. Right now, though, Artificial General Intelligence is a “theoretical technology.” It is a myth and it is mythic.
In the land of data analysis, silicon, and algorithms, this new mysticism is blooming because narrow artificial intelligence is rapidly improving. Narrow artificial intelligence are machines capable of one task — one-trick ponies. But, the improving narrow artificial intelligence inspires awe and wonder, prompting computer scientists to use words like “alchemy” and “magical.”
Artificial General Intelligence is known as “the Holy Grail of Artificial Intelligence.” Why would such serious-minded computer scientists use the language of religious mysticism? Achieving Artificial General Intelligence is a “quest,” not a search, hunt, or research project. It’s the Holy Grail, not winning the Super Bowl, breaking the all-time home run record, or being the first to the moon. Developing AGI is compared to finding the Chalice of the Last Supper, suggesting it too will deliver miracles of happiness, eternal youth, or infinite abundance.
As a technology, Sundar Picahi, CEO of Google’s parent company Alphabet, called Artificial General Intelligence “more profound than fire.”
So, let’s stop beating around the burning bushes. Let’s get this new religion going: The Church of the Almighty Algorithm. “After we sing hymn 0100101, the congregation will remain standing while we convert your life and soul into data.”
The old religions also used a simple algorithm (or covenant): If you adhere to the strictures of the religion, you will earn certain benefits. Eternal life. Enlightenment. Internal peace. Healing. Wealth.
Along with rewards, religion also provides a narrative to explain the world. “It’s all part of God’s plan,” you hear people say. Or, “the Lord works in mysterious ways.”
The Church of the Almighty Algorithm has a better explanation: human beings are algorithms processing data — food, water, ideas, sounds, images. We are data. We function by processing data: the sweet smell of an apple blossom is olfactory data. The rippling colors of the moon off the lake are pixels of visual information — data. If I sing “By the Light of the Silvery Moon,” I am using visual information to prod audio bits into the air — data.
The lowest common denominator of life is now data, that is information converted into numbers. More and more people are realizing that we do not have souls, we have quantifiable bits of information we don’t know how to use.
But, the Church of the Almighty Algorithm has the answer. As you process your own data, you must also upload it to Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, the high priests of algorithms, so that you in the form of data can fit into the giant data puzzle that is Homo Sapiens. (And be available for targeted marketing.) Believers and non-believers alike must connect themselves — 24/7 — to the Internet of Everything.
Silicon Valley and its high-tech advocates may believe that they are ushering in a new age of reason and prosperity. But, as you read the texts of artificial intelligence and the “quest for artificial general intelligence,” you can feel that old-time religion peeking through the high-tech promises.
Byron Reese runs Gigaom, a technology research company. He has the sanctimonious optimism of the faithful. In his book, The Fourth Age, he is breathless over Artificial General Intelligence, calling it:
A system that will have the sum total of all human knowledge available to its magnificent digital brain. Think of all that we would ask of it.
Reese’s questions for Artificial General Intelligence are in italics, a relevant Bible passage follows:
“We would undoubtedly ask [Artificial General Intelligence] how to end disease, aging, and death.”
…. there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain… (Revelation 21:4)
“We would give it the problems of poverty, hunger, and war.”
They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. (Revelation 7:15-17)
“We could ask it for answers to all the vexing mysteries of the universe.”
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void… (Genesis 1:1-2)
“And we would ask it, "What should we ask you?" given that it will have capabilities beyond our understanding.”
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you… (Matthew 7:7)
Will the Church of the Almighty Algorithm traffic in miracles? Algorithmic miracles are touted everywhere, proof of Arthur C. Clarke’s third law, “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
Savvy computer scientists believe in rational science. But, their language confirms the magic, mystery, and marvel of algorithms.
Harvard physicist Henry Lin wrote about deep learning algorithms: The big mystery behind neural networks is why they work so well.
Open AI’s chief scientist Ilya Sutskever told the New Yorker: This stuff is like — It’s like alchemy!
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative invests millions in digital learning for K-12 schools because they believe in “the magic of technology.”
Yuval Noah Harari called an algorithm “arguably the single most important concept in our world.” Harari has written about a new religion, describing it as Dataism:
But where do these great algorithms come from? This is the mystery of Dataism. Just as according to Christianity we humans cannot understand God and His plan, so Dataism declares that the human brain cannot fathom the new master algorithms. At present, Of course, the algorithms are mostly written by human hackers. Yet the really important algorithms — such as the Google search algorithm — are developed by huge teams. Each member understands just one part of the puzzle, and nobody really understands the algorithm as a whole.
“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,” crying out: “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 3:2) And in these days comes futurist Ray the Kurzweil reprising John’s prophecy crying out “The Singularity is Near.”
Sadly, Ray the Kurzweil wears no raiment of camel’s hair and no leathern girdle about his loins, as John the Baptist did. But, Kurzweil preaches that the Singularity — the union of biological intelligence with artificial intelligence — will allow us to transcend these limitations of our biological bodies and brains. We will gain power over our fates. Our mortality will be in our own hands…
Ray the Kurzweil continues in his 2005 book, The Singularity is Near: Well, we need a new religion. A principal role of religion has been to rationalize death, since up until just now there was little else constructive we could do about it.
Artificial General Intelligence will not rationalize death, it seeks to supersede death. Yuval Noah Hariri predicts that by 2050 we will merge our bodies with artificial intelligence, extending life and intelligence. Researchers are beginning to argue that death is a disease that can be cured. Transhumanists believe that we can go beyond being human to live as long 500 years.
Zoltan Istvan, a self-styled transhumanist, wrote in the Metro UK newspaper that: It is only by getting the world to back anti-aging ideas and recognizing that death should be treated like a disease that humanity will be infinite.
The blessing of artificial general intelligence, as promised, is to make humanity infinite, god-like.
We live in an age of science and reason. Yet, the human desire for a deity, for God, for answers to profound mysteries remains. The search continues with new names, new explanations, but we are still seeking to fulfill an ancient human yearning for the divine.
The Church of the Almighty Algorithm is only the latest incarnation.
Dan Hunter is an award-winning playwright, songwriter, teacher and founding partner of Hunter Higgs, LLC, an advocacy and communications firm. H-IQ, the Hunter Imagination Questionnaire, invented by Dan Hunter and developed by Hunter Higgs, LLC, received global recognition for innovation by Reimagine Education, the world’s largest awards program for innovative pedagogies. Out of a field of 1200 applicants from all over the world, H-IQ was one of 12 finalists in December 2022. H-IQ is being used in pilot programs in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, North Carolina and New York. He is co-author, with Dr. Rex Jung and Ranee Flores, of A New Measure of Imagination Ability: Anatomical Brain Imaging Correlates, published March 22, 2016 in The Frontiers of Psychology, an international peer-reviewed journal. He’s served as managing director of the Boston Playwrights Theatre at Boston University, published numerous plays with Baker’s Plays, and has performed his one-man show ABC, NPR, BBC and CNN. Formerly executive director of the Massachusetts Advocates for the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities (MAASH) a statewide advocacy and education group, Hunter has 25 years’ experience in politics and arts advocacy. He served as Director of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs (a cabinet appointment requiring Senate confirmation). His most recent book, Atrophy, Apathy & Ambition,offers a layman’s investigation into artificial intelligence.