One of my husband's favorite movies is MATRIX. You know the one with Keanu Reeves being plugged in and used by a computer system? O.K. I admit, I have yet to figure the series out, but it was a fun movie. I remember as a high school teacher, most of my male students were enthralled with the premise.
Being plugged into a computer and liviing in the system seemed so far fetched, but not now. See the excerpt below from February's TIME magazine feature:
"Maybe the artificial intelligences will help us treat the effects of old age and prolong our life spans indefinitely. Maybe we'll scan our consciousnesses into computers and live inside them as software, forever, virtually. Maybe the computers will turn on humanity and annihilate us. The one thing all these theories have in common is the transformation of our species into something that is no longer recognizable as such to humanity circa 2011. This transformation has a name: the Singularity.
The difficult thing to keep sight of when you're talking about the Singularity is that even though it sounds like science fiction, it isn't, no more than a weather forecast is science fiction. It's not a fringe idea; it's a serious hypothesis about the future of life on Earth. There's an intellectual gag reflex that kicks in anytime you try to swallow an idea that involves super-intelligent immortal cyborgs, but suppress it if you can, because while the Singularity appears to be, on the face of it, preposterous, it's an idea that rewards sober, careful evaluation. "
(Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2048138,00.html#ixzz1ELucDiY0)
(Did you smile at the author's notion that weather forecasting ISN'T science fiction anymore as he makes his case for artificial intelligent life taking over? I think St. Louis' last BLIZZARD forecast that brought in the NATIONAL GUARD and yet never happened shows a bit of arrogance in trusting the science of weather forecasting, don't you?)
I like the radio broadcast response I heard today about the article. People would rather put their trust in this possibility of hooking into computer software programs than in the reality of Jesus. Somehow, it is easier to trust computers than the fact of Jesus? Hasn't anyone had computer problems or had a computer shut down or seen the impact of too much faith in technology alone?
As long as man denies the Supreme Being of God, he will seek immortality through things. It is an interesting concept. It may even happen. I know when I was in high school, I was sure by 2011 we would be living like the Jetsons in the sky and flying our cars to and fro instead of driving. Instead more subtle yet powerful changes have occurred, haven't they?--Phones that are smaller than your palm, working on miniature computers, taking pictures with phones, 3D television sets at home, medical advancements, home appliances....
All of this can lead to pride in mankind. We lose the holiness and amazement of the One who Created it all.
Adrian Rogers once said that if we took the best qualities of every single human who had been on the planet thus far and combined them into one person, that person would still fall short of the Amazing Creator of us all. We still fall short, even with, or especially with technology.
Singularity. What a name for it. It is so isolating!
Praise God, I am already plugged into an eternal power. I will live forever. I am not alone as I face leaving this earth and journey home. The Holy Spirit lives in me and works through me.
Now that is NOT science fiction.
Join me won't you, in tellng our children and our children's children so they will be prepared for 2045's approach to immortality.
For His Glory,
Gretchen
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