R.E. Slater - "Questions I Ask Myself When Nobody is Listening" (a poem)

Religion by Charles Sprague Pearce

What is Apophatic Verse?

It seems the Internet did not wish to answer my question as to what apophatic verse might be. What I got were thoughts on negative theology rather than poetic verse which, I suppose, was on target if "verse" were taken to be referring to Bible verses.

Yet, this was not what I wanted when searching the Internet. And yet, in a skewed, sideways sort of mention, I suppose my query might have unconsciously asked how "Spirit" and "spirit" might coexist between my God and my heart.

As example of this latter mention, when positively declaring "God is infinite" one might redress the topic apophatically - that is, in negative rephrasing - by saying, "God is not finite." Even so, this was neither my question of the Internet nor how I normally wish to come to God's Person or Personage in negative address.

And yet, curiously, in it's reply the Internet went a bit further when expanding on the tangential subject of apophatic prayer - of which question I definitely was neither asking, nor seeking, nor even considering such a reply.... even so, I continued my sideways glance, focusing on the wayward paragraph then reading it finding my heart warmed in a way only the Spirit might do on so late an eve as I quietly read for a third time the Internet's serendipitous contemplation:

What is Apophatic Prayer?

Answered negatively, "Kataphatic" prayer has content using words, images, symbols, and ideas; whereas "Apophatic" prayer has no content. It simply means emptying the mind and heart of restless words and thoughts to find oneself simply resting in the presence of the God in prayerful reflection. Restated,... a centering prayer may be apophatic in result.

R.E. Slater

May 15, 2024

*What is apophatic mysticism? Apophatic mystics claim that nothing positive can be said about objects or states of affairs that they experience. These are absolutely indescribable, or “ineffable.” Thus, apophatic theology typically will be negative theology — meaning, we may only say what God is not. - SEOP: Mysticism

* * * * * *

Francesco Botticini, The Assumption of the Virgin (c. 1475; detail)

Questions I Ask Myself

When Nobody is Listening

by R.E. Slater

Sitting in absence wishing it were not so,

    is unlike sitting in want finding I have no needs.

On a day when my heart is broken,

    only then can it be made whole.

So too is curiosity a curious thing -

    but so is satisfaction when unmet.

There is fullness in every new day,

    yet by nightfall I find myself empty.

When mind and heart restlessly struggle,

    in God's presence I find stillness.

Can the way of the bee and the ant teach anything?

    Or is it foolishness which cannot be taught?

If it is true that a good ploughhorse requires a field,

    then a good student should require a good teacher.

When parents fail whom do they turn to?

    Or, when turning, find none to help.

I cannot say whether Time is a mystery or an illusion,

    though I believe both are true of relationships.

There is also mystery in each new day,

    but by day's end all seems known.

"Can a true thing be less true?" I ask myself.

    And if so, were it never true at all?

Too, can a false thing teach truth?

    ... Perhaps so, when discovering my own error.

Daily chores seem a burdensome imaginary,

    until unmet, then finding they were never imaginary.

Of thoughtful questions there seems no end,

    but upon reflection they seem never asked.

Might salvation be found before one is fallen?

    Or must one fall to be found?

         ... Life lessons are oftimes hard.

Similarly, if one is found had a fall occurred?

    Or was it I who needed most to be lost?

Testimony always seems right when utter,

    but in hindsight, it holds many a cruelty.

A faithful witness, like one's love,

     is most needed when spoken timefully.

To waste a day is to lose more than a day,

    but in truth, many days are just as well lost.

If one's heart goes unheeded,

    does it sour in remiss?

And if one's heart is heeded,

    does the errant day run brighter?

Most days seem futile though, in hindsight,

    they were as necessary as the air we breathe.

A good prose poem blends seamless to the hour,

    even as the wayward hour expires when unnoticed.

Age looks back on youth seeing wonder, miracle,...

    yet youth, looking to age, has yet to comprehend.

R.E. Slater

March 26, 2023

Note: An experiment in apophatic poetry

@copyright R.E. Slater Publications

all rights reserved

What Is In a Christian Label? Examining Conservative, Progressive & Processual Christianity

EVERYDAY ATTITUDES

"Being is as much about Becoming

as Becoming is about Being." - R.E. Slater

Process Living is:

upLifting and uniting,

motivating and encouraging,

being and becoming...

bearing all things,

being all things,

becoming all things...

abiding all people,

reviving all relationships,

surviving all difficulties...

when pursuing faith,

overcoming obstacles,

suffering as Grace...

in sacrifice and service,

with diligence extended,

abiding, staying, doing...

reclaiming and redeeming,

renewing and resurrecting,

regenerating all about...

everyone,

everything,

everywhere,

ever and ever...

---

process amplification

is singing, throbbing,

all around and in us,

across heaven and earth,

hearts and lands,

about, within, and from us,

unstoppable,

instoppable,

withheld no hand,

no soul, no land,

we are... as creation is...

as life and death are,

immortal wonders,

are, and are becoming...

R.E. Slater

December 15, 2023

revised December 19, 2023

@copyright R.E. Slater Publications

all rights reserved

What Is In a Christian Label?

Examining Conservative, Progressive & 

Processual Christianity

by R.E. Slater

Introduction

When a Christian is advocating for social equality, nature, and justice, they are known as progressive Christians regarding their faith and denominational orientation.

Though labels should be unimportant we use them daily to identify who we are (rightly or wrongly), what is important to us, and why such things are important to us.

When speaking about today's present-tense church many wish to break free of the church-molds we find ourselves in but dare not because of the ostracism which may follow when doing so. Thus we continue to bind ourselves within societal structures which have become meaningless, useless, and unhelpful.

In the evangelical world of church-in-the-present-tense we hear a lot about conservative Christians but very little about progressive Christians... the kind which wish to live in a judgment-free world with people who are allowed to be who they chose to be or, are-in-themselves people who do not need to live up to another's (inappropriate, or binding) standards.

Conversely, progressive Christians are co-operating Christians co-ordinating their faiths with the disseparate (unlike) faiths of others. They yearn to live in co-hesive communities where difference is a strength and not a weakness.

If a progressive Christian attends a mainline church the fellowships therein are usually progressive... as in progressive Methodists, Lutherans, Nazarenes, etc. Here, one may discover diverse congregational attributes supportive of social equality, ecological, and social justice. Where people who have different cultures and backgrounds with one another are usually accepted, welcomed, and embraced.

In the Catholic Church, progressive Catholic faiths may be more equally divided with that of conservative Catholic faiths demographically.

Broadly, a conservative faith is more traditionally-orientated, keeping with the familiar, unwanting change, and refusing racial introspection regarding feminism, gender difference, or race and religious heritage. All congregants are to be as one and to be assimilated into one conservative attitude (much as Picard's crew on the USS Enterprise were assimilated into the Borg).

Hence, some Catholic Churches may be more conservatively evangelical in their outlook or character or they may be more progressively evangelical in the same.

What is Conservative Evangelicalism?

Evangelicalism is a recent descriptor of a traditionalized church's acclaimed creeds and doctrines:

• They generally are Cross-centered in Christ;

• Preach repentance from sin and salvation by Christ;

• Assimilating in outreach community programs;

• Broadly authoritative in their church's social and political structures; and,

• Usually Patriarchal in orientation restricting women to serve under the guidance of men because women are thought to be unequal in the home, church, office, or generally, in society with men.

• This is known as complementarianism:

 

Wikipedia - Complementarianism is a theological view in some denominations of Christianity, Rabbinic Judaism, and Islam, that men and women have different but complementary roles and responsibilities in marriage, family life, and religious leadership. Complementary and its cognates are currently used to denote this view. Some Christians interpret the Bible as prescribing complementarianism, and therefore adhere to gender-specific roles that preclude women from specific functions of ministry within the community. Though women may be precluded from certain roles and ministries, they are held to be equal in moral value and of equal status. The phrase used to describe this is "ontologically equal, functionally different".

Complementarians assign primary headship roles to men and support roles to women based on their interpretation of certain biblical passages. One of the precepts of complementarianism is that while women may assist in the decision-making process, the ultimate authority for the decision is the purview of the male in marriage, courtship, and in the polity of churches subscribing to this view.

The main contrasting viewpoint is Christian egalitarianism, which maintains that positions of authority and responsibility in marriage and religion should be equally available to both females and males.

Roles in the Church: Based on [a fellowship's] interpretation of certain scriptures complementarians view women's roles in ministry, particularly in church settings, as limited. The complementarian view holds that women should not hold church leadership roles that involve teaching or authority over men. For instance, Frank Page, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, has written that "...while both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of Pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture" while the office of deacon are open to both men and women (excluding Catholicism). According to complementarianism, women are not completely forbidden from speaking within a church since Paul speaks about women prophesying inside the church....

 

• Further, a conservative faith, fellowship, or church are oriented to living for-and-in the future seeing the present day and its times as having little worth except in waiting for Jesus' thunderous return to put down all evil and wickedness in the Last Days Which is to say that except for providing for one's family or community all other things in life carry little value... such as the restoring of ecology, or ecological living, or building mansions for one's self. All are rags and meaningfully unimportant in light of dying and going to heaven to be with God.

And because Jesus' Return is of high importance to a conservative Christian faith this "biblical" form of governmental structure has carried over into their jargon relative to a preferred form of governance... that of a "theocratic kingdom" over-and-above all other forms of governance... including that of an open democracy.

• A theocratic kingdom is a realm led by a godly king rather than by a people's republic. It is known as a theocracy and is at all times preferred, possible, and desired:

Wikipedia - Theocracy is a form of government in which one or more deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries who manage the government's daily affairs.

Consequently, the idea of the "divine-rights of kings (and queens)" is accepted into the conservative church's "kingdom language"... regardless the king or god.

In the cinema's 2023 flick on "Napoleon" we see the difficulty France had in overthrowing a bad king as they willing tried to establish a "people's government".  However, (New) France's revolutions repeatedly failed thus allowing figures like Napoleon to fill in as a quasi-emperor until the French form of democracy could finally prevail and survive.

• Lastly, conservative evangelicalism fails or succeeds in growing love amongst it's assembly and with it's community. Usually they tend to be guarded and isolating to themselves and their practices with like-minded assemblies. At other times a congregation feels relatively comfortable in their witness and cooperative working relationships with their community.

• However, being literal in their reading of the bible - rather than reading the bible as source-literary redactionists  qua the bible's era-specific cultures as progressives would do - conservative evangelics seek to emulate / institute a "biblical morality" rather than a societal "humane morality" as relating to all things civilly ethical and equal.

And so, various levels of discrimination are kept and maintained into naturally occurring societal fellowships. Anything less than some form of interpretive "biblical morality" is sinful and of the devil.

• Lastly, conservative evangelics preach a God who is holy first, and loving second. Which means God's holiness informs all the rest of God's divine attributes of God's divine presence or divine separation from an unholy Christian or secular world.

Conservative fellowships live in binary worlds of their own making:

• Holiness through Christ using forms of penal substitutionary atonement; that,

• God may leave or stay, come or go, from an unholy society or sinful Christian; that,

• God's sovereignty is measured in retributive divine power upon all God's enemies or wayward children; and that,

• Outreach and assimilation into their interpretations of the bible and creedal beliefs of God is their main obligations in preparing the world for Christ's return.

And underneath all these character traits of a conservative fellowship is one last attribute... that of revering the past believing yesteryear (perhaps Eden? Victorian England? Etc.) held some form of utopia which made it more preferable than the present societies experiential dystopias.

• That any traditionalism - such as Israel's early kingdom forms in the Old Testament - favoring an unequal patriarchal-based economy along with cultural standards are preferrable to conservative church in comparison to any other form of civil-societal arrangements such as those based upon constitutional forms of  governance allowing men and women, free and slave, rich and poor, black, red, white, or brown races to govern themselves in fully equal, fair, and just civil relationships with one another.

What is Progressive Evangelicalism?

In comparison, progressive Christians feel completely out-of-place in an open democracy or an open-form of progressive church ministry. This feeling of unethical treatment of the feared Other is what has motivated progressive Christians towards re-balancing the theological equations in their church or leaving altogether to find fellowships which are welcoming and affirming in their reception of all members of a community.

Wikipedia - Progressive Christianity represents a postmodern theological approach, and is not necessarily synonymous with progressive politics. It developed out of the liberal Christianity of the modern era, which was rooted in the Enlightenment's thinking.

Progressive Christianity is a postliberal theological movement within Christianity that, in the words of Reverend Roger Wolsey, "seeks to reform the faith via the insights of post-modernism and a reclaiming of the truth beyond the verifiable historicity and factuality of the passages in the Bible by affirming the truths within the stories that may not have actually happened." [Wolsey's statement confuses me... - re slater]

Progressive Christianity, as described by its adherents, is characterized by a willingness to question tradition, acceptance of human diversity, a strong emphasis on social justice and care for the poor and the oppressed, and environmental stewardship of the earth. Progressive Christians have a deep belief in the centrality of the instruction to "love one another" (John 15:17) within the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Progressive Christianity focuses on promoting values such as compassion, justice, mercy, and tolerance, often through political activism. Though prominent, the movement is by no means the only significant movement of progressive thought among Christians. It draws influence from multiple theological streams, including evangelicalism, liberal Christianity, neo-orthodoxy, pragmatism, postmodern theology, progressive Christian reconstructionism, and liberation theology. The concerns of feminism are also a major influence on the movement, as expressed in feminist and womanist theologies [I prefer the wider form of theology known as "intersectional theology. - re slater].

Although progressive Christianity and liberal Christianity are often used synonymously, the two movements are distinct, despite much overlap.

What Is Processual Christianity?

To conclude, I have personally discovered and chosen a third option. One that is not conservative but one that is also more broadly progressive than an evangelical basis can provide in itself, its traditions, and its histories.

To illustrate, say my heritage and education always preferred to painting with the bolder colors of the spectrum... however, with time's passage and cultural preference, I now wish to paint using the softer, pastel colours rather than with bold colours.

In the former instance I was a "conservative painter" whereas in the latter instance I had become more "progressive as a painter." That is, until science came along with a new "species" of paints fallen into the broader category of "quantum paint spectralysis applications".

In this new science of paints I find I no longer need to be defined by my preference between binary forms of painting but may approach painting in its truer quantum forms of spectralysis application.

And so, I have found a more naturalized foundation replacing the binary forms I was at first acquainted with. Let's call this naturalized process of growth "process-based painting" which speaks to both i) the foundation of the science as well as ii) its application of the science into my beliefs and ways I might chose to live within the many evolving forms of society.

Over the years as I deconstructed by conservative faith and explored others forms of Christian belief and living, I eventually tripped over AN Whitehead's process philosophy of cosmological metaphysics, ontology and ethics.

Much as Westernized philosophical forms have held biblical faiths to unnatural forms of inorganic, binary thinking (such as Platonic Hellenism, etc) so as Whitehead's process-based thinking provided a more natural way of looking at God and creation, humanity and society.

I found it was unnecessary to force progressive beliefs out of a culturally bound, unevolving, binary system of Christian belief such as present day forms of evangelicalism. But in process philosophy I could participate fully and freely in its derivative... that of process theology. It is more organic, naturally relational and intersecting within-and-about itself with greater or lesser forms of processual metaphysics and cosmology. And at its core, process-panpsychism play abouts its being, novelty, imagery, imagination, and becoming.

In sum...

• God becomes less restrictive;

• A Christian theology may be centralized in-and-around a God of love;

• Whose loving divine attribute informs all other attributes of God's divine person;

• God may be both "Other" in Ontological transcendency but always abiding in God's divinely loving immanency within-and-about creation;

• God's always abiding presence recharges creation with God's divine character of love;

• A divine character which creation was born with while not lessening our responsibility to recharge ourselves, our world, and nature about us, with redeeming qualities;

• Divinely loving qualities which are... and are becoming.

Conclusion

In short, our being-ness in God is always in the evolving redemptive stages of becoming-ness:

• Process-based Salvation is what defines Christ's crucifixion and the church's direction to teach love, be love, and do love;

• We are to approach this life in processual hope and energy;

• A process Christianity must always be mindful to nurture it's processual faith which at it's core is always progressive and without need for any withholding (evangelical) theological basis.

• Lastly, any Christian or religious (cultural) background can be re-centered around a loving, processual God and faith. As example, I can take my past (Calvinistic) Baptist (Reformed) heritage and training, remit it, grind it up, and come back with the kind of loving God and theology which Jesus was clearly teaching the rabbis and showing to his countrymen and disciples.

This is how Relevancy22 was birthed and why it is designed to teach processual Christianity from as many angles as I have time to write of all the ways in which Whiteheadian process philosophy may be applied as a third / fourth generational Whiteheadian Christian philosophic-theologian.

So what is in a Christian Label?

Everything and nothing. It may, or may not, describe who we are but cannot inhibit us in our interiority from growing and evolving and becoming more than we once believed we were in our faith, our behaviors, our hopes, and dreams.

A processual ME is the best God-redeemed Me we can be in this life or the next. We are. And are becoming. Praise God !

Peace,

R.E. Slater

December 15, 2023

 Related Articles

• Has the MAGA Church Pushed America Into an Anocracy?

• What Is In a Christian Label? Examining Conservative, Progressive & Processual Christianity

• America is First "A Land of Rights and Freedoms" before it ever was a Christian Nation

• Women Speak up for America and Against MAGA!

• Napolean and France's Struggle for a People's Democracy

Amazon link

ORT Theology is more properly described as
Open and Relational PROCESS Theology

Building the Basileia: Moving

the Church into the 22nd century

by Ulrick Dam (Author)  |  November 10, 2023

Year after year, a familiar narrative unfolds: Church attendance declines, communities wither away, and once-thriving churches shutter their doors. But does this spell the end of Christianity and the relevance of church communities? Absolutely not. We have the power to breathe new life into the church and restore its significance by embracing the ideas of Open and Relational Theology, allowing it to shape our ecclesiology. Within this transformation lies a profound summons – to actively engage in constructing the very kingdom of God, here and now. We are called to partake in the building of the kingdom of God, or the what the biblical writers called the Basileia, even as we keep our gaze fixed on the ultimate kingdom that awaits. This will be the key to new life for churches moving into the 22nd century.

* * * * * *

Amazon link

Revelation for Normal People:

A Guide to the Strangest and Most 

Dangerous Book in the Bible 

(from "The Bible for Normal People" Series, Pete Enns)

by Robyn J. Whitaker (Author)  |  November 24, 2023

Part of: The Bible for Normal People (7 books)

It has never been more important to read Revelation well.

Whether you love it, hate it, or avoid it like the plague, the last book of the Bible’s influence permeates our cultural, political, and religious landscapes. From the so-bad-they’re…still bad actually…Left Behind series, to conspiracy theories about microchips and barcodes, to all-too-real political discourse and actions, John’s visions in Revelation reach far beyond anything their ancient author could have imagined.

But what did John imagine? Who was he writing for and why? And what’s the deal with all the hideous horned beasts?

Join New Testament scholar Robyn Whitaker as she uncovers the real-world contexts behind this ancient apocalyptic text. A world occupied by an oppressive empire, a marginalized people, and a God committed to justice. Where a beast overthrown was a declaration of authority and a falling star was a statement of evil’s demise. Where symbols gave voice to resistance and visions provided a glimpse of hope. A world utterly and entirely ancient.

Only when we understand Revelation’s ancient contexts can we begin to find meaning for our own.

Learn to read Revelation well with The Bible for Normal People—bringing the best in biblical scholarship to everyone. 

The Future of Quantum AI

Living Quantum Lives in a Quantum World: My grandson loves to walk outdoors. Being hot we took a short walk then came back to run under the sprinkler to get wet, laugh, and cool off.

The Future of Quantum AI

by R.E. Slater

Having introduced a reasonable discussion of Process-based (processual) Radical theology which blends the best of progressive religious faith and non-faiths with their deep desire for global human goodness. I here wish to begin working out how to approach AI Sentience when looking at humanity in its past derivations between (i) gross, unfeeling human sentience to (ii) what it might mean to become more fully sentient as human beings when acting more humanely with one another.

Utilizing the hypothetical Alter Ego of AI might be of help when looking at ourselves as either monsters, or angels, regardless of whether a machine can develop conscious feelings or ennobled ends. Much too often we humans fall into the uncaring monstrous categories against what I believe is the God of Love's divine sentient model to love one another over ourselves through self-sacrificial service and care.

If man is the summa cum laude of sentience by which we human beings measure all other things to ourselves - including quantum AI - than man's monstrosities do not seem to be very complimentary to what it means to be sentient when acting so grossly inhuman. Or, cruelly inhuman, inhumane, harming, or devious. So let's just say that I'm not convienced that we, ourselves, are quite the proper definition, or description, of what it means to be a "sentient" being.

Through this series I will be very curious to see what corrollaries there may be between that of human beingness and whether or not humanity can become more than what we have ever been in our present pasts. If I were to guess, I would say acting humanely in love will always be something our species can only strive for but never finally accomplish. This is the realist in me.

And to those Christians out there who say Jesus is the answer - even as I do - let us look at ourselves and truly ask this question again. To those conscientious few who are trying to live out the love of Jesus - or the humaneness of one's beliefs - well, God bless you. You, above many, are willing to be the used-and-useful broken vessels of the Holy Spirit bringing mighty rivers of living waters to all who are around you. I wonder at your marvel and pray your success over the powers wishing to overcome you. Stand in the Spitit and be strong!

Still, my doubtfulness to man's general abilitities to transcend our human-ness remains clear-eyed in its regards to our earthly failings and evils. Even so, all creation - not only humans - were created in God's Imago Dei to be, and to become, generatively loving, nurturing, and nourishing in passing along value-producing acts and deeds. But to this loving freedom has also come the deep harm we do to one another - and to nature itself - contrary to the Divine Image in which we were birthed and made....

An earthly Image corrupted by the very loving freedom with which we were given - and to which the Church declares as our "sin nature". A nature, or disposition, to which our own experience declare to us - and with the Apostle Paul in Romans 5-9 - the great weight of conflict and tension which wrestles daily with our errant souls in fully becoming what we could be in God's divine potentiality. Assuredly, Jesus' atoning redemption provides the divine power to our spiritual potential but even so, we can't help but ask why, with such great heavenly aide, why we fail so often and so completely against what we are and are to be.

And so, the question remains: "Can we become more than what we are?" 

Naturally the bible embodies many of those same questions in a dated sense even as humanity's centuries-old classical literature has repeated similar themes of conflict, tension, abject failure, soulful agony, personal repentance, deliverance, salvation and redemption, time-and-again, up to, and including, today's modern SciFi games and literature.

These themes of loss and gain can be thought of in processual terms as defining our soulful sentience. That of deep struggle, agonizing conflict, the deep inability to prevent loss, our weakness to difficult situations that are in us, and about us, and to which we are helpless at times to stop.

So the question of who-we-are as measured by how-we-are daily confronts us along with the why-we-are and the where-we-are-going. These are some of the age-old questions which look back at us from the works our enfeebled hands have produced by toil and sweat - perhaps by our own sinful deeds and evil acts or, prayerfully, by loving, selfless, sacrifice. DV

We, the vainglorious --

we earthly sentients,

may come as gods of harm

or as great helps to many.

This fearsome sentence we bear,

this deepest of sacraments we wear,

that burdens, burns, inflicts,

that lifts up or brings low,

is too great a thing

to have, to hold, to wield,

so fierce its works,

so awesome its majesties.

We, Thy holy Sentinels --

workers of endless wonders,

casters of resplendant miracles,

bringers of mighty gifts,

riches, and holy blessings,

ever by Thy loving hand foresworn.

An undying fire never to go out,

fiercest of fires and turmoils,

Giver of winds and waters,

Creator of men and gods,

embrazoned in fallible image,

unfallen and undying, most cursed.

R.E. Slater

June 8, 2023

So here are a few questions I have as we go forward:

• What is meant by sentience as versus consciousness and conscientiousness. How are they alike or different?

• Can AI portend a greater form of sentience than human sentience?

• If there is such a thing as "Super Sentience" then what can this mean?

• Can sentient AI feelings be knowingly exploited? And vice versa, can AI exploit human feelings?

• What do we mean by an "Ethical Sentience" and can this be a corollary more appropriately referring to "Super Sentience?"

Peace,

R.E. Slater

June 8, 2023

A Few References Moving Forward

Why Quantum Computing Is Even More Dangerous Than Artificial Intelligence
The world already failed to regulate AI. Let’s not repeat that epic mistake.

Aug 21, 2022

LaMDA | Is google's AI sentient?  |  34:00

Full audio conversation between Blake Lemoine and LaMDA

by Curly Tail Media - Jun 23, 2022

Can artificial intelligence come alive? That question is at the center of a debate raging in Silicon Valley after Blake Lemoine, a Google computer scientist, claimed that the company's AI appears to have consciousness.

“Godfather of AI” Geoffrey Hinton Warns of the

“Existential Threat” of AI  | 18:08

by Amanpour and Company - May 9, 2023

Geoffrey Hinton, considered the godfather of Artificial Intelligence, made headlines with his recent departure from Google. He quit to speak freely and raise awareness about the risks of AI. For more on the dangers and how to manage them, Hinton joins Hari Sreenivasan.

Max Tegmark interview: Six months to save humanity from AI?

 DW Business Special  |   DW News

Apr 14, 2023

A leading expert in artificial intelligence warns that the race to develop more sophisticated models is outpacing our ability to regulate the technology. Critics say his warnings overhype the dangers of new AI models like GPT. But MIT professor Max Tegmark says private companies risk leading the world into dangerous territory without guardrails on their work. His Institute of Life issued a letter signed by tech luminaries like Elon Musk warning Silicon Valley to immediately stop work on AI for six months to unite on a safe way forward. Without that, Tegmark says, the consequences could be devastating for humanity.

AI and the future of humanity

Yuval Noah Harari at the Frontiers Forum
May 14, 2023

In this keynote and Q&A, Yuval Noah Harari summarizes and speculates on 'AI and the future of humanity'. There are a number of questions related to this discussion, including: "In what ways will AI affect how we shape culture? What threat is posed to humanity when AI masters human intimacy? Is AI the end of human history? Will ordinary individuals be able to produce powerful AI tools of their own? How do we regulate AI?"

The event was organized and produced by the Frontiers Forum, dedicated to connecting global communities across science, policy, and society to accelerate global science related initiatives.

It was produced and filmed with support from Impact, on April 29, 2023, in Montreux, Switzerland.

For more information on the Frontiers Forum go to https://forum.frontiersin.org/

* * * * * * *

Google’s Sycamore quantum computer  |  Rocco Ceselin/Google

Google demonstrates vital step towards large-scale quantum computers

article link

by Matthew Sparkes, 14 July 2021

Google has shown that its Sycamore quantum computer can detect and fix computational errors, an essential step for large-scale quantum computing, but its current system generates more errors than it solves.

Error-correction is a standard feature for ordinary, or classical, computers, which store data using bits with two possible states: 0 and 1. Transmitting data with extra “parity bits” that warn if a 0 has flipped to 1, or vice versa, means such errors can be found and fixed.

In quantum computing the problem is far more complex as each quantum bit, or qubit, exists in a mixed state of 0 and 1, and any attempt to measure them directly destroys the data. One longstanding theoretical solution to this has been to cluster many physical qubits into a single “logical qubit”. Although such logical qubits have been created previously, they hadn’t been used for error correction until now.

Julian Kelly at Google AI Quantum and his colleagues have demonstrated the concept on Google’s Sycamore quantum computer, with logical qubits ranging in size from five to 21 physical qubits, and found that logical qubit error rates dropped exponentially for each additional physical qubit. The team was able to make careful measurements of the extra qubits that didn’t collapse their state but, when taken collectively, still gave enough information to deduce whether errors had occurred.

Kelly says that this means it is possible to create practical, reliable quantum computers in the future. “This is basically our first half step along the path to demonstrate that,” he says. “A viable way of getting to really large-scale, error-tolerant computers. It’s sort of a look ahead for the devices that we want to make in the future.”

Read more: China beats Google to claim the world’s most powerful quantum computer

The team has managed to demonstrate this solution conceptually but a vast engineering challenge remains. Adding more qubits to each logical qubit brings its own problems as each physical qubit is itself susceptible to errors. The chance of a logical qubit encountering an error rises as the number of qubits inside it increases.

There is a breakeven point in this process, known as the threshold, where the error correction features catch more problems than the increase in qubits bring. Crucially, Google’s error correction doesn’t yet meet the threshold. To do so will require less noisy physical qubits that encounter fewer errors and larger numbers of them devoted to each logical qubit. The team believes that mature quantum computers will need 1000 qubits to make each logical qubit – Sycamore currently has just 54 physical qubits.

Peter Knight at Imperial College London says Google’s research is progress towards something essential for future quantum computers. “If we couldn’t do this we’re not going to have a large scale machine,” he says. “I applaud the fact they’ve done it, simply because without this, without this advance, you will still have uncertainty about whether the roadmap towards fault tolerance was feasible. They removed those doubts.”

But he says it will be a vast engineering challenge to actually meet the threshold and build effective error correction, which would mean building a processor with many more qubits than has been demonstrated until now.

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BLOG / ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING

Will AI Ever Become Sentient?

What Do the Latest Trends Say?

https://emeritus.org/blog/ai-and-ml-what-is-sentient-ai/

Written by Bishwadeep Mitra

Write to us at content@emeritus.org

20 March 2023 | 6 Min Read

In 2022, Google employee Blake Lemoine hit international headlines when he declared that a Google chatbot had gained sentience. His June 11 blog highlighted the conscious demands of the chatbot ‘LaMDA’ that mimicked reality so closely that it became a point of serious concern. Is AI (Artificial Intelligence) really gaining sentience or, in other words, able to experience feelings? How do we deal with such a possibility, especially when expert opinion surrounding sentient AI is already quite dystopian? Can we approach the idea of artificial sentience without being anxious at every step? This blog provides all the essential answers to bridge public apprehensions with scientific evidence on what is sentient AI.

What is Sentient AI?

Simply put, sentience is the capacity to feel and register experiences and feelings. AI becomes sentient when an artificial agent achieves the empirical intelligence to think, feel, and perceive the physical world around it just as humans do. Sentient AI would be equipped to process and utilize language in a natural way and invite an entirely new world of possibilities of technological revolution.

Are Language Programs like LaMDA Sentient AI?

LaMDA, which stands for ‘Language Model for Dialogue Applications’, is a chatbot based on a suggestive model similar to the technology deployed by GPT-3 and BERT models. According to its proprietary owner, Google, LaMDA can ingest trillions of words from the Internet and simultaneously form sensible, open-ended conversations. Although the neural network architecture that LaMDA uses has trained the language models to improve the specificity of its responses, it is still far from being considered sentient AI.

A 2022 BuiltIn report states that the answers provided by LaMDA’s different responses are comprehensive but not original. And there is reason to believe this. First, language models are now sophisticated enough to take on different personality types. Second, LaMDA can process millions of articles and discussions within seconds to come up with original content. Thus, the hype surrounding LaMDA being conscious of death from its fear of ‘being switched off’ is more a product of research skills and personality-adaptation techniques of the AI agent than a result of sentience. In short, LaMDA is not sentient.

What if AI Becomes More Sentient than Human?

With the rapid advancements in technology, it is often felt that copying human intelligence is only a matter of time, with imagination leading to dystopian worlds ruled by machines. However, the much revered British computer scientist, Stuart Russel, draws a crucial distinction between human-compatible AI and sentient AI. In his book ‘Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach,’ he points to the rise of an AI-driven culture where the agent doesn’t blindly follow orders but also tries to understand the nature of the query. However, according to Russell, three components must be present in order to become sentient:

1. A perfect unity of an external body and internal mind
2. A defining original language for the AI to access
3. A defining culture to wire with other sentient beings

If technology does take that turn and sentient AI does develop, these could be its presumed effects:

Communication Errors

Despite understanding human languages, the modus operandi of AI is hard logic. As the core functional paradigm of human beings is emotions, there will be major communication discrepancies in human-AI communication.

Eroding Control

When AI develops autonomy, it might not provide consent to be controlled or ordered.

Diminishing Trust

It would be difficult to establish trust in a sentient AI that might develop the ability to provide incorrect information depending on circumstances. At the same time, when AI becomes better than or at par with humans, we could also lose trust in human abilities.

What Happens When an AI Becomes Sentient?

Having understood what it is, can we know how it will behave after it becomes sentient? We do not yet have a robust and evidence-based answer to this question. However, speculations connect the concepts of sentience with awareness, a sense of power, autonomy, and independence. This is why some scientists believe that with the rise of sentience in the digital realm, robots will learn to feel emotions apart from processing massive levels of information via Natural Language Processing (NLP). Thereafter, AI agents may start experiencing a wide range of complex emotions and successfully articulate them. But there is no empirical evidence to suggest such massive development in the next few decades or so.

Robert Long, a research fellow at the University of the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford, defines sentience as a subset of consciousness. He further says that in order to be conscious, one needs to have subjective experiences. This experiential knowledge determines the absoluteness of a distinct voice, which is readily visible in human conscious subjects. As experts argue about the threshold of sentience, there is a defining technological gap in the system vis-a-vis testing the sentience qualities of an AI agent. However, neuroscientist Giulio Tononi’s Integrated Information Theory suggests that, in principle, it is possible for us to digitize consciousness in its entirety. Moreover, AI researcher and one of the founders of General Language Understanding Evaluation (GLUE), Sam Bowman, claims the plausibility of AI becoming sentient within the next two decades but also draws the line of caution to understand what is sentient AI’s progress. and where it is leading us before stepping further.

What are the Main Concerns About It?

A 2022 Guardian article mentions that the culture of apprehension around sentient AI will inform the ideas that future generations hold about the concept. For instance, there have been many ominous rumours surrounding Google’s LaMDA despite discovering its limitations. In order to not be victims of misinformation, we should be aware of the wide concerns surrounding sentient AI and what we can do to curtail them, such as:

• AI’s self-autonomy may allow it to inquire about its rights

• AI’s idea of conscience and objective morality might not align with that of humans, leading to friction

• AI agents might not prefer being subjected to experiments

• AI agents may demand the same treatment as human beings

Frequently Asked Questions

How Long Will it be before AI is Sentient Enough to Think for Itself?

While there is no definitive answer here, philosopher David Chalmer claims that we could witness a 20% sentient AI in the next ten years.

What Would be the Early Signs of Sentient AI Arriving?

The day AI surpasses human intelligence in the most complex tasks, and understanding the ramifications of each such task, will be the day AI becomes sentient.

How would I Interact with a Sentient AI?

Sentient AI would be smart enough to understand any human language. You can interact with a sentient AI as you do with humans—verbal language, sign language, or audio-visual media.

Understanding what is sentient AI’s role in building a futuristic world is crucial for developing human-AI synergy. To further develop an understanding of sentient technology, and the possibility of a sentience-driven AI culture, explore Emeritus’ artificial intelligence and machine learning courses.