This book attempts to address the question of where humanity is going. Doing this, technological enhancement, bioengineering, and especially, artificial intelligence (AI) is used as foundations to envision humanity’s future through the Christian perspective. The Christian philosopher, John Lennox offers a discussion in which the advantages and disadvantages of AI for humanity as well as its potential implications are addressed. The core message of the book is that the Christian perspective can provide answers to philosophical questions and bring people hope for the future of humanity. Readers curious about the interaction of science and religion may find the book interesting.
Content Analysis
John Lennox is a professor of mathematics at Oxford University. He is mainly known for his works and speeches on the interface of science, philosophy, and religion. He teaches at many academic institutions. He has written several books exploring the relationship between science and faith, including Can Science Explain Everything?, Determined to Believe?, and Where Is God in a Coronavirus World? His new work is a book based on Christian ethical values.
Contrary to George Orwell’s famous novel, 1984 which depicts a dystopian future; Lennox’s 2084 presents a hopeful vision of the future. The content of the book indicates that Lennox has kept an eye on Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. His curiosity for what might be ahead enabled him to apply his philosophical expertise to the analysis of challenges that would likely affect the future of humanity in the coming decades.
It seems that the contents of three books motivated him to write this book: Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind, and Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow; and Dan Brown’s Origin. These books make assumptions about the future direction of humanity. Lennox examines Harari’s and Brown’s thoughts about AI through a Christian outlook. He claims that science and Christian perspective make rational companions.
He has organized the book into 13 chapters. Through a critique of the books mentioned above and based on his mathematical mindset, he reasons that the universe is mathematically intelligible to a considerable degree. He applies pieces of evidence from biology and highlights the purposiveness of DNA and life structures. In his view, they confirm the purposefulness of creation and life as mentioned in the biblical records. The conformity of science and the Bible is evident in Lennox’s view.
Supporting his claims by a detailed explanation of the distinction and wholeness of “intelligence” and “consciousness” in humans, he extends his discussion to a biblical belief that maintains God created humans in his image and linked intelligence and consciousness together in one being. Thinking of God as a conscious intelligent being, he argues that intelligence and consciousness may not be brought together in machines and robots as it is done by God in humans.
As a Christian philosopher, Lennox believes in the spiritual nature of God. He unfolds his argument to more detail by reminding readers that God links consciousness and intelligence together in a non-material way through the soul. He believes that God is Spirit and his way of creation indicates that neither consciousness nor intelligence necessarily depends on material components. He admires the advancement of science and technology on AI but assumes that humans may never be able to make a conscious material machine compared to themselves.
Lennox discusses AI generally. While the use of algorithms has embraced many aspects of contemporary human life, Lennox reminds readers that the computer and algorithms are products of the human mind. Consequently, any failure in achieving the accurate accomplishment of the tasks assigned for machines and computers must be attributed to humans and their mental abilities, not the algorithms and machines. He questions the validity of the term “artificial” in artificial intelligence and thinks that any form of intelligence should bear a taste of “reality” in its essence.
He defends his holistic view of intelligence and consciousness and thinks that every discussion of AI-driven technologies must consider that wholeness seriously. According to Lennox, while AI-driven technologies help us make our works smaller and remove unnecessary activities, they do not make us conscious more than what we are. He insists on his distinction of intelligence and consciousness and their wholeness in human. He thinks that becoming smarter may be true about robots, but being more conscious may be attributed only to humans.
He inspects the optimism of thinkers such as Ray Kurzweil who assume that most human tasks will be taken over by robots by 2030. He recommends readers to rethink robots’ takeover even to a partial extent. Lennox appreciates human’s God-given significance as an intelligent and conscious being. Altogether, his commitment to the Christian perspective makes him thankful to God as the Creator for his being and wisdom that bring hope to people in a damaged world.
Lennox fails to address many of the pressing issues regarding the application of AI-driven technologies in his book. While he mentions ethical questions such as the impacts of AI on work, privacy, and even weaponry, the focus of his book is the philosophical aspect of ethics, not AI. He explains how God’s image defines the human and humanity character. AI and the element of foresight are missed in this book despite its subtitle: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity. This may increase the readers’ confusion as they finish the book. His previous books reflect stronger cohesiveness. Lennox admits that his professional background is in mathematics and the philosophy of science, not in AI.
In recent years, some authors have attempted to address the concept of consciousness concerning robots and humans. They have borrowed insights from philosophers to answer the question of consciousness but rejected the relevance of a discussion of the soul. Lennox’s 2084 may fill the gap despite its shortcomings by recognizing the element of soul and bringing it up to the discussion. His philosophical argument of the unity of consciousness and intelligence as mentioned in the book looks noteworthy.
In his book, Lennox deals with naturalistic and secular thoughts expressed by authors such as Yuval Noah Harari, RayKurzweil, Nick Bostrom, Rosalind Picard, and Max Tegmark. While much of his discussion revolves around AI, he attacks the secular thinkers and defends his commitment to the Christian faith by introducing it as a reliable approach in addressing some challenging questions. Instead of attacking others, he might take an independent approach. In that way, readers would be encouraged to appreciate the novelty of his thoughts.
Conclusion
Lennox has addressed some questions in his book: What does it mean to be human? Where do we come from? and where are we going? He has answered these questions from a Christian perspective and has attempted to compare his favorite answers with replies that might or might not be made by the modern secular perspective. He has devoted a considerable part of his book to review AI generally and evaluates its impacts, as well as concepts such as transhumanism and superintelligence. However, his failure in providing a cohesive and independent critique of AI makes his claims doubtful in the eyes and minds of secular readers. A purely philosophical argument of AI from a religious perspective is still under question after studying 240 pages of this book.
Reference
Lennox, J.C. (2020). 2084: Artificial intelligence and the future of humanity. Zondervan.