the Purpose of god and ai

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God created the universe.  It seems logical that there is a purpose to this creation.  What could God's purpose be?

As we are developing our own creation in AI, it could be very instructive to how God might approach the universe.  Just as God created intelligent beings from nothing, man is attempting to create a thinking computer from nothing.

Why is man doing this?  In the business and military realms, the primary reason is to create a highly effective tool.  Whether that tool is a service chatbot, a computer algorithm programmer, or a machine which drives a car independently, people are hoping smart machines will improve their lives. 

This really doesn't compare to God's purpose to create the universe.  He would need tools that operate in his dimension.  Could this be angels?  Seems logical, but that is strictly theory.  In this world, it also seems like animals and plants are tools keeping the world vibrant.  

This leaves more esoteric reasons for creating the universe and humans.  The most obvious two are to prove that he can or to entertain himself.  These are very real and scary reasons because they imply a God who truly doesn't care for us.  Many people criticize God and say that he doesn't care.   They state that if he exists, then he doesn't care for me.  

Everyone thinks this at some time.  This reasoning is self-centered and based upon our individual understanding of reality.   It starts from how we perceive the world versus how the world is.  Is it necessarily bad for us to think in a self-centered manner?  Is what people really saying is they wish God cared more them and there desires?

From a macro point of view, people will say something like how could God allow the Holocaust or the Crusades or the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre to occur?  These are very horrific events from a perspective of the cost in human life.  Only God would understand the full ramifications of the event.  These events have large impacts across time and often many of these outcomes are considered good.  Add in the idea that if people continue on after death, then God's perspective on the loss of life is very different than ours.  

The bottom line is I don't think we are in the position to say if God cares or not.  There is a reality beyond just our limited viewpoints and even after eliminating the individual viewpoint, there are too many variables to make a final definitive declaration.  In addition, Jesus' teachings point to a God who deeply cares about individuals.  

If we eliminate these two reasons for God's purposes, is there an alternative answer?  There is an alternative theory which follows.  It allows for God to be a caring God while logically making sense of the many things we suffer.

Our bigger picture started with Jesus and his resurrection, so let's go back to this.  

Let's assume that God cares.  We made that assumption because of Jesus and his teachings.  Again, if you believe God raised him from the dead, then it becomes extremely difficult to not believe that God wants good for humans.  Even if God made the universe to prove that he could or to entertain himself, this is not some capricious creation, but one that he cares enough for to send Jesus to the cross for it.

Jesus and the Bible hold up a future standard where "the church" is the bride of God.  This implies we are made to be PARTNERS with God.  

Everyone has a different view of partners and in a world where marriages are not kept by a majority of people, this is extremely hard to accept by many.  We like our independence; we want to just fulfill our desires and not be concerned about a being that is so distant from our material experiences. 

Why would a partner be better than a created being?  I think of Steven Covey's book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  He splits his habits into two types, the first 3 are habits that make you independent.  The next 3 habits are for intradependence,  habits that allow you to work with other people.  If these habits become a regular routine, then your relationships begin to change and there can be real pleasure in sharing time with other people.  The joy of multiple people living together is so much greater than just living on our own.

We started this section by asking if God would create the universe to entertain himself?  In a way, wanting to have a partner is a "selfish" desire.  But does that make it wrong?  Part of intradependence is to look for win/win solutions.  Solutions where both parties are rewarded would be assumed in a partnership with God. 

This partnership would extend beyond our limited mortality.  It extends into the predictions of a new world in the Bible.  Partnerships make sense in the context of prayer and many of the concepts of living a normal Christian life.  It allows for reasons why human interactions makes a difference in the outcomes of this world and it gives our lives greater purposes than we believe in our daily existence.  

Don't take this theory too far.  Partnership does not mean equality.  Two people can be in a partnership even if one is smarter and stronger.  God is still the creator and is ultimately in control.  He is just one who wants to share in his work.   

You could very well have major objections to this idea that God created the universe for partners.  This is just an introduction to an idea and some of the following webpages build upon this theory.  (Feel free to send your questions or thoughts from the contact section}  There is much more that could be said on this point and for the sake of time/space, it is more appropriate to not try to put all of the ideas in this page.   

But there is another interesting concept of AI that we should hit upon before moving onto the next page.

I am no expert in AI and this paragraph will be pretty simplistic, but it is a very interesting idea in the concept of the creation.  Feel free to respond and provide more clarity to my concepts.  

As of the late 2024, AI has two specific subsets, Machine Learning and Deep Learning.  In Machine Learning, the computer is given specific goals and provided training sets which graded for accuracy.  At times the machine might even learn from someone else doing the task.  In the end, the machine is dependent upon the human input for the learning.

In Deep Learning, computer scientist are developing neural networks to mimic how the brain learns.  Now the computer is trying to learn from observation and autonomously decides what to learn to produce the needed results.  This type of learning requires more computational resources and the human has less control of the outcomes. 

Deep Learning is difficult.  It is costly.  It is risky.  But it also produces much greater results than if the computer programmer sat down and wrote thousands upon thousands lines of code. 

The analogy to the human condition is great.  We are not people who operate by instinct, we are people who learn from life and continually develop.  This is the whole key to the Homo Sapien history.  It is the one animal that has continually developed over time.  The historical record shows Neanderthals and other hominids existed much longer than Homo Sapiens.  The hominids don't show development of tools or society throughout their long history, but Homo Sapiens continually develop and grow, advancing the cause of humans.  

The implications of this concept are overwhelming.  Could God be developing His partners in a manner that is also open ended?   This is both scary and exciting.  I am not oblivious to the emotions such an idea brings up; after all, this whole investigation was driven by the stark fear of death.   As an independent being, I want to be in control of everything, I want to be on top of the world.  And many people work all of their lives to be that person.  And then reality steps in.  Are we courageous enough to move forward? 

There is another philosophical concept that there is a creator.  He created everything at the Big Bang like a watchmaker creates a clock.  Then he winds up the mechanisms (or in the modern world is he puts in the battery) and lets the thing run.  

Again, Jesus' death and resurrection steps in.  If this occurred, then we can't say that God just allows everything to run without His intervention.  God intervened, there is no doubt about that.  And then we look throughout history and see so many things where life "beat the odds".  And then we can look at our individual lives.  God could easily be working in the "simulation" for good outcomes.  It is more effective for his purposes to be working in ways which do not reveal his intervention.  

God creates independent beings to be in partnership with him and places them in a situation where they could develop into something greater than just external "programming".  All of a sudden, we have moved from a God who doesn't care one bit about you, to a God who cares extremely for you.  Again, Jesus' teachings say that God knows you better than yourself.  He cares even more than you realize.  

The concept is both frightening and exciting depending upon which side of the line you stand on.  If you are unwilling to accept this reality, you are going to try to run away from it as far as you can.  You would rather believe there is no God or that he is capricious.  This will make you feel better and you can continue to do the things that you want to do in this life.  That will become your personal mental construct.

Are you willing to accept what reality could be telling you?  

Questions and Theories