It’s the End of the World As We Know It, And I Feel.
Spoiler Alert: The following post contains spoilers for Eve Poole’s 2024 book entitled Robot Souls: Programming in Humanity, as well as for the 2024 Netflix movie Leave the World Behind starring America’s Sweetheart Julia Roberts. I consumed both at approximately the same period of time (the week after our final Spring semester class), and the connections and overlaps are stunning.
Poole’s book was consumed in paperback form, although the back cover denotes that it is also available as an “eBook edition in a range of digital formats.” Leave the World Behind, a thriller based on a book of the same name by Rumaan Alam, was consumed twice (once is simply not enough) in digital form, via the Netflix app on our 65-inch Vizio 4K HDR Smart TV.
A bowl of popcorn and copious amounts of La Croix were also consumed.
Leave the World Behind tells the story of a family whose vacation (at a beach-town short-term rental) is interrupted when strangers (who actually OWN said short-term rental) arrive to tell them of a worldwide blackout. Both groups must band together as the world seemingly experiences global, doomsday cyberattacks. Since watching the movie I have been talking with handfuls of people about its larger themes, warnings, and implications. In many cases, my bantering has been met with “Hmm, I thought it was good movie,” or “Gosh, I remember watching Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman or Mystic Pizza.” That’s it. Fodder. Silly talk. Not much in the way of substance or deep reflection.
Meanwhile, I am gripped by the subtle and not-so-subtle deeper questions, subject matter, and cautionary warnings, such as:
• Digital screens can serve as both an escape and a reflection of reality. In the movie, each member is deeply engrossed in their personal devices, at the expense of one another, only to have those personal escapes rendered dead and useless.
• Humanity has a glaring over-reliance upon online digital content. When the world started to fall apart all digital content was seemingly gone, leaving only analog options (vinyl, CD’s, DVD’s, etc), and, God-forbid, human connection, as evidenced in the movies consistent usage of the 90’s show Friends. The episode mentioned throughout is called “The Last One” and it’s a movie trope that harkens us back to six lonely young people in New York, expressing “I’ll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour….” And, boy, when it rains it sure does pour.
• American society has historical fissures, such as racism, class inequality and intolerance, that threaten to implode us as a nation. One of the opening, ominous scenes was that of a massive oil tanker named White Lion running aground on a heavily populated Long Island beach. Per History.com, the White Lion was the English ship that was first responsible for bringing enslaved Africans to the Virginia Colony in 1619. That ship’s journey is widely credited as the start of slavery in America, which is perhaps the greatest crime that America has ever committed.
• Automated, AI-controlled technologies, if left unchecked could be agents of destruction. This is seen so clearly as tens of thousands of self-driving Telsa vehicles crash together in a massive high-speed pileup. Thanks Elon.
I could go on and on. This stuff gets me amped. And I’m not alone, Eve Poole says “If we do not strive to equip our robots [AI, technology, etc] with this programming [soul, moral agency, etc], we may have spawned a race of psychopaths from who we will need protection” (Poole, 131). Poole asks an important question: “Do we embrace AI, or do we panic and lock it down?” She goes on to maintain, “we will only have ourselves to blame if we do not act now to try to rectify our programming mistakes” (Poole, 124). In an effort to create machines that are, by design, smarter than us, we have to reconcile the reality that they can (and most likely will) overrun us. In a recent New York Times article about OpenAI it states, “From the moment it was created in 2015, OpenAI was primed to combust.”
So, how do we program our robots and AI with free will, uncertainty, emotions, mistake-making and matters of the soul, before it destroys us?
Now, I’m not like “Danny” the conspiracy theorist of the film, played by Kevin Bacon, although I might be six-degrees separated from it. I’m not advocating stocking up on can foods, hiding in a bunker and cutting off all digital connection, but I am calling for, well, connection. Actual. Human. Connection.
We all need Friends (RIP Matthew Perry) – not just the 90’s sitcom, although that wouldn’t hurt, but actual friends.
Not just the ones that we scroll through, heart, or thumbs up. Analog friends. IRL.
If the Covid-19 pandemic taught us anything, it’s that we need fellow humans, community, and connection. And, as Poole notes, “humans still turn to religion when their world has turned upside down” (Poole, 93). This invites another deep question, one I have been wrestling with for a number of years: Can we actually find deep community in an online church service?
How ironic was it that as our world was falling apart during the pandemic we collectively moved more and more into virtual spaces? The irony is about as thick as Julia Roberts staring in Leave the World Behind as Amanda Sandford, that highlights Friends, a TV show from 30 years ago, in which she had a cameo as Susie Moss. All of this would bring attention to the fact that Leave the World Behind and Friends cannot really exist in the same time and space. Therefore, Julia Roberts is a paradox.
There, I said it.
And while I’m being honest, I think America’s Sweetheart is overrated. She hasn’t had a good movie since Notting Hill.
Don’t judge me. That’s just how I FEEL.
And, as the song says, “It’s the end of the world as we know it. It’s the end of the world as we know it. It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel
fine.
About the Author
John Fehlen
John Fehlen is currently the Lead Pastor of West Salem Foursquare Church. Prior to that he served at churches in Washington and California. A graduate of Life Pacific University in San Dimas, CA in Pastoral Ministry, and Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, CA with a Masters in Leadership and Spirituality. He and his wife Denise have four grown children and four grandchildren. John is the author of "Don't Give Up: Encouragement for Weary Souls in Challenging Times," a book for pastoral leaders, a children's book called "The Way I See You," and the forthcoming "Leave A Mark: The Jouney of Intentional Parenting." You can connect with John on Instagram (@johnfehlen) as well as at johnfehlen.substack.com.9 responses to “It’s the End of the World As We Know It, And I Feel.”
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And I feel…. amped? amazed? ambivalent? antagonistic?
Your title and concluding sentence made me think of Qalia, that “feeling” trait Poole talks about that leads to (or is parallel to) sentience. But I digress.
What I came to comment on was IRL. Ironic that while we wrestle with whether digital or IRL is better, we are doing so in a program that is 95% online and digital.
I’m with you on the questions, and concerns about screens, primarily online relationships, church attendance, etc. And I’m doubly concerned (after reading this book) that Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein will become a fulfilled prophesy in AI.
But I’m MOST concerned not about forming souls in AI in the future, but the monster we are creating now… of ourselves… as we slowly loose our souls to the endless scrolling and screen distractions (yes even Netflix) of our day-to-day.
In other words, by the time we get to figure out how to program souls in AI, will we have souls left to program?
The reason you and I got into the particular program that we did was because it was primarily digital – that’s a decision of “convenience.” But we appreciated that there was a portion of it that is in person (ie: advances), and that’s a decision of “community.”
We wanted both. And I think that the average human wants both as well. They want the convenience of quick, digital interactions, such as dropping a text to something rather than engaging in a face-to-face or a phone call, but they also hunger for meaningful engagement. Soul on soul.
I was listening today to the Elon Musk biography and there was a mention of his involvement in OpenAI, and how he keep pushing that it be developed, but developed with ‘a soul’ lest it take over and destroy us. Hmmm. Interesting.
John, you asked, “How do we program our robots and AI with free will, uncertainty, emotions, mistake-making and matters of the soul, before it destroys us?” That is indeed a question I was asking as I read Robot Souls. Not the “why” or the “what” (I wrote a bit about this in my post), but the HOW. I’m guessing you have some coders in your church — that would be an interesting conversation to have over lunch with those folks. How to code “free will…(and) matters of the soul.” By the way, if you haven’t seen Homecoming (got a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes), that was a pretty good series Julia Roberts starred in.
If I do have coders in my church then I don’t know who they are – they must be the quiet ones sitting in the back!
But that would be an interesting thought experiment –
It brings to mind this: perhaps pastoral ministry is the high risk (ad)venture of helping people (re)discover their soul.
We can speak of people being “soulless” which we know is not true – of course they have a soul, but they have not taped into it or set it aside for fleshly pursuits. They don’t need to be “programmed” but rather, reminded.
I am intrigued by your call to bring us back to analog relationships. My son and I just started watching the new Percy Jackson series on Disney+ and as it is a story about Greek Mythology, there are a lot of themes I see from that series that pull into our readings.
In the last episode, the kids find themselves in a casino, and much like the travelers in the Odessey, they are being tempted from their mission by the lotus eaters. Eating the lotus flower, in this story, can cause you to forget your past and those you love. They end up reassembling and finding their way out, but I was very intrigued that they found one of their friends had completely lost sense of his purpose. Guess where they found him? In the VR room on a make-believe quest. Perhaps there is an analogy in there of how we can lose our way in this journey we are making through islands of technological distractions.
“In the VR room, on a make-believe quest…”
That phrase struck me.
You and I know that there is a quest that is so much more inviting, stimulating, compelling and engaging than that of VR, but so many are missing out on it!
It reminds me of the quote in the movie “The American President.”
Lewis (Advisor to the President): People want leadership, Mr. President, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they’ll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They’re so thirsty for it they’ll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there’s no water, they’ll drink the sand.
President: Lewis, we’ve had presidents who were beloved, who couldn’t find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight. People don’t drink the sand because they’re thirsty. They drink the sand because they don’t know the difference.
Perhaps folks have been so beat up by real life, or don’t know the difference between IRL and VR – and will simply settle for VR.
John, I now have an urge to find the Julia Roberts movie.
Genesis 11:6 The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
Wow. I guess we have arrived.
I found it interesting that Poole quoted Asimov. One of my first Sci-Fi favorites was Asimov.
Isaac Asimov wrote, “The Last Question” in 1956. It is a science fiction short story that explores themes of entropy, the nature of the universe, and the potential evolution of intelligence. I remember how science combined with my faith when the AI (who existed outside of space and time) finished his data collection on entropy. As the last sun died and entropy was completed – with all life extinguished, the AI had the answer to reversing entropy. Alas, no one existed to report his data to, so instead the AI said, “Let there be light!”
Shalom…
Oh, that’s deep. In the same way you need to seek out the Roberts movie, I need to get me some Asimov!
Thanks Russell!
Hi John,
The call for community and connection is on my heart as well. Last night when I was putting my post together I wanted to add something from the DSM-5-TR but not sure it fit. Jennifer’s response and your thoughts on the need for connection reminded me that with Internet Gaming Disorder (which is in the section under disorders that need more research) most of the symptoms are related to the breakdown of relationships. The internet and screen time is very problematic for many people. I’m not sure that adds much to the conversation, but in my work I see the ways unchecked screen time negatively impacts the ability to connect with others. As we know authentic connection with real people contributes positively to social, emotional, psychological, and spiritual well-being.
And…
Though online church is not my preference. We have a number of elderly folks and caregivers who would not be able to attend otherwise. I lead a weekly online Bible study group that makes it possible to connect with people in a more personal way than only viewing the Sunday service. Though not ideal, these members would not have much relational connection. I have been surprised by how connected and authentic we are even online.
https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/internet-gaming