{"id":32865,"date":"2023-09-04T14:07:58","date_gmt":"2023-09-04T21:07:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=32865"},"modified":"2023-09-04T14:07:58","modified_gmt":"2023-09-04T21:07:58","slug":"ai-the-bad-the-good-and-the-purpose-of-humanity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/ai-the-bad-the-good-and-the-purpose-of-humanity\/","title":{"rendered":"AI: the Bad, the Good, and the Purpose of Humanity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Much is written on the Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) Theory. There is a curve with five kinds of people distributed. They are the innovators, the early adopters, early majority, late majority, and the laggers.[1]<\/a> Everything inside of me wants to think of myself as an innovator or early adopter. My track-record says late majority or lagger. The reality is when there is something new that I do not understand, I simply don\u2019t like it, don\u2019t trust it, or could not be bothered with changing. When it comes to generative AI, this is also the case. When I imagine the how this can negatively harm humanity, I fear.<\/p>\n

However, when the initiate fear subsides, my imagination goes to how this can be used for the flourishing of humanity.<\/p>\n

In this post, I will reflect on the potential dangers, limits, and possibilities of AI. I will particularly focus on how this relates to education.<\/p>\n

Dangers and Limitations<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is has already been much distress on the effects of AI in education. With students submitting AI generated papers, the reason for concern is valid. The potential for disinformation is immense. Generative AI uses statistical language matching. It regurgitates information from the web by a rapid output of sentences based on what words most likely go together. This can create disinformation and confusion. This is problematic when using AI for education.<\/p>\n

Another danger I see is not a new danger. It is the latest installment of an ancient problem, and that is settling for what is easy. Challenge is good for us. The building of grit by pushing through difficult tasks is critical for growth. If students do not relocate the grit that comes through writing thoughtful research papers into another way of developing grit, their growth will be compromised.<\/p>\n

Possibilities for Human Flourishing<\/strong><\/p>\n

But that is not the whole story behind AI and its effects on education. Sal Khan in his brilliant TED talk highlights the exponentially positive impact AI could have (and, as he demonstrates, already has) on education.[2]<\/a> Students having equal access to a career coach, tutor, and academic counselor at a one-to-one ratio through AI will have profound implications for good for human intelligence.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

Purpose of Humanity<\/strong><\/p>\n

But there is one more possibility when it comes to AI. It is the possibility of Gospel engagement with the human existential crisis when many human tasks get outsourced to AI. There will be a crisis of purpose. Who am I when what I produce is better done (and more quickly) by AI? What is our purpose if we are not contributors to the bottom line?<\/p>\n

What is humanity? What does it mean to be a part of this species called \u201chumans\u201d? Are we simply more intellectually advanced beings with a learning capacity far superior to other living organisms?<\/p>\n

There is an assumption here that I want to highlight. It is the assumption that to know the parts, the elements, the components of a machine or organism is to \u201cknow\u201d it in its entirety. If I know the components that go into making a car, do I know everything about it? If we know every organ and system in the human body, do we know everything about what it is to be a human?<\/p>\n

The 20th-century\u00a0missiologist and pastor, Lesslie Newbigin, wrote about the dialogue between science and Christian faith in his book Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel in Western Culture<\/em>.[4]<\/a> He pointed out that this assumption of knowing the essence of a thing simply by knowing all of the parts is an absurd idea in a Western, secular culture.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

In other words, I can understand the pieces that go into a car. I may even know how they function together. But if I, having never encountered a car before, know all that goes into making a car, I still do not know what the car is used for. I do not know why the car exists. Maybe I figure out that it is used for moving people and items from one place to another. But what people, and what items? And what if there are two cars, but they look different? One is a pickup truck. One is a Prius (shout out to all my fellow Prius drivers). Who\u2019s to say their purpose for existence is the same or different?<\/p>\n

Here is the point I wish to make: These are exciting advances in technology and knowledge. But, if reduced to the sum total of their parts, we are still left with the question of what it means to be human. The question of purpose is not, I would argue, something that can be arrived at through knowing the sum total of human intelligence and developing that same intelligence artificially. Rather, it is through knowing we are made in the image of God, and our purpose is to be in communion with the Trinitarian God, with one another, and co-reign with God in taking care of the good creation entrusted to us.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Wayne W. LaMorte, MD, PhD, MPH, \u201cDiffusion of Innovation Theory,\u201d Boston University School of Public Health, November 3, 2022, accessed September 4, 2023, https:\/\/sphweb.bumc.bu.edu\/otlt\/mph-modules\/sb\/behavioralchangetheories\/behavioralchangetheories4.html.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> How AI Could Save (Not Destroy) Education | Sal Khan | TED<\/em>, 2023, https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hJP5GqnTrNo.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid. 00:45 \u2013 4:21.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Lesslie Newbigin, Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture<\/em> (Grand Rapids, Mich: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co, 1986).<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid. 73.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Much is written on the Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) Theory. There is a curve with five kinds of people distributed. They are the innovators, the early adopters, early majority, late majority, and the laggers.[1] Everything inside of me wants to think of myself as an innovator or early adopter. My track-record says late majority or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":152,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2347,2548,2620,1345],"class_list":["post-32865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp01","tag-ai","tag-newbigin","tag-purpose","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/152"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32865"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32866,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32865\/revisions\/32866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}