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My 89-year-old mom and I get into some pretty interesting email conversations. Despite her age, she is still as sharp as a tack. This morning -- well, at least morning Guam time -- as we have done on previous occasions, she and I got into a discussion regarding the current state of AI -- that is to say, Artificial Intelligence -- deepfake deception and the ongoing development of humanoid robots.

In a word, my mom does not like any of this stuff. It really frightens her, and she feels that it is advancing too fast. She worries that the day is fast approaching when we won't be able to distinguish a humanoid robot from an actual human being. Her concern is partially the result of a short video clip I emailed to her which showed the latest Chinese female humanoid robots. Folks, let me tell you. These robots were quite impressive in both their human appearance, and in the smoothness of their humanlike movements. There was nothing jerky about them. In fact, they are a far cry from Robbie the Robot, R2D2, C-3PO, Terminator, and other famous robots we have seen in TV shows and in big screen movies over the decades.

As I told my mom, this challenge of distinguishing real from unreal is precisely the problem that is already occurring now with so-called "deepfakes". As some of you will already know, a deepfake is a bogus video which is created by using video editing software in conjunction with AI to purportedly show important people -- most notably politicians -- saying things which they really did not say. The people who are really good at doing this kind of stuff can take recordings of a person's speeches, break it down to the individual syllable level, and then reconstruct an entirely new sentence, or even an entire speech from it. Then, using video editing software, they can even adjust the mouth and facial movements to perfectly match the words that are being spoken in the video.

Deepfakes can be very deceptive, and unless you know what to look for, such videos can easily trick you. Imagine how such deepfakes can affect a person's worldview, or even affect an election. It is dangerous stuff! As you have probably heard, certain movie stars and music artists have begun to raise an uproar over deepfakes and AI, mainly because they are rather concerned about losing money. Of course, not all deepfakes are that good, and some can be easily spotted. But as I said, some are so good that they will fool you if you aren't really careful.

Regarding lifelike, humanoid robots, right now they are still very expensive. Thus, they are only available to the elite who can afford them. Also, they have not yet reached a level where they can completely fool a human being. However, they are rapidly approaching that mark. But as I told my mother, I really don't think that people in her particular age bracket need to worry about this, because it will still be a number of years before humanoid robots reach a level of perfection where they will be able to easily pass for an actual human being. I may possibly live to see it, or maybe not. Only God knows.

But my mom is right about one thing. Even some of the people who are involved in the top tiers of this cutting edge tech, readily admit that the technology is advancing way too fast, before legislation and such can be put into place to properly monitor and control it. However, as we all know, the reality of the matter is that the profit margin is a wicked thing. As a result, there is a constant struggle between those people who want to use such technologies in a responsible manner to better human society, and those who are more interested in merely profiting from it.

In fact, as some of you may recall, this is precisely why there was recently a leadership struggle within OpenAI, the people behind the very popular ChatGPT. One of the founding members -- Ilya Sutskever -- left to start a new company, and one of the other original founders -- Sam Altman -- who had actually been kicked out of OpenAI by board member Ilya Sutskever, regained control of the company. So, different people have different visions regarding how AI should be used and controlled. By the way, in case you didn't know, Elon Musk was also a co-founder of OpenAI.

But look at Elon Musk now. As I have mentioned before, he was one of the people who was greatly concerned by how fast AI was developing. He warned people of the potential dangers it presented. However, in recent years, Musk has made a 180 degree turn in his thinking regarding AI, and now he's fully on board with it, and his attitude seems to be "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." My understanding is that he's apparently afraid that if society does not embrace these technologies, then such technologies will one day soon be superior to us, and perhaps may even view us as inferior beings and enslave us.

So, now Musk runs Neuralink, Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink and he is also developing his own humanoid robot. Furthermore, in the latest news, he also has plans to develop his own brand of cell phone which will be linked to his Starlink network.

But that is not all. As some of you will know, a number of Hollywood movies have been made over the years where human consciousness is uploaded into a computer database. In fact, back in the old Star Trek TV shows there were episodes where they used this as a plot point as well. Two related movies that I can think of are 1995's "Johnny Mnemonic" where Keanu Reeves has a brain implant, and 2014's "Transcendence" where Johnny Depp's character's consciousness is uploaded to a computer. Now this plot line is normal fare in sci-fi movies. Of course, we also have very humanlike androids, such as in the case of Mr. Data in "Star Trek: The Next Generation".

But as they say, yesterday's science fiction is today's -- or at least tomorrow's -- reality. It should come as no surprise then that now Elon Musk is experimenting with his Neuralink BCI. The acronym BCI stands for "Brain Computer Interface". This chip, which was approved by the FDA in May of 2023, will allow paraplegics and other disabled people to move things with their mind, after a series of electrodes in the BCI chip is inserted into their brain. At last word, Neuralink had begun working with its second patient. On his X platform -- formerly known as Twitter -- Elon Musk says that he envisions hundreds of people having a BCI chip within a few years, and then thousands of people some years later, and eventually millions of chipped people.

Other people who have likewise worked on similar technologies include, for example, British engineer and roboticist, Kevin Warwick -- who acquired the nickname "Captain Cyborg" -- and controversial inventor, futurist and transhumanist, Raymond Kurzweil, about whom a documentary was made in 2009 entitled "Transcendent Man". You might find it interesting to know that Kurzweil is convinced that sometime during this current century, we will become a human-robot civilization, and he very much wants to be a part of it. I certainly hope that he is wrong!

But the fact of the matter is that if there is a confluence of all of these various technologies -- or a singularity -- eventually -- and unless God stops it -- we will indeed end up with man creating artificial man in his own image, and becoming his own little god. He will live a pseudo "forever" existence in an artificial body, without any assistance from God or Jesus Christ. That is how devilish all of this stuff is. Even noted theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking saw no need for God in his life, sad to say.

On the surface, if we just look at each of the individual parts, it does not look so bad. In fact, the truth is that on their own, these technologies can actually be used to help a lot of people who suffer from a variety of different disabilities. Furthermore, the individuals developing these technologies always promote the benefits which will someday be derived from using their technologies. I have discussed this same issue before with regard to the Digital Angel and the VeriChip. The sad truth is that good intentions do not always last, and many inventions which were initially made to assist humanity, fell into the wrong hands and were used for evil.

In the case of AI, robotics, etc., when we join all of these different technologies together, it creates a potentially dangerous and frightening vision of the future where humans are either no longer fully human, or else where humans are dominated by, and possibly even destroyed by, their super intelligent creations. Does it remind you of a certain movie franchise starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton?

So, I don't know about you, but unlike transhumanists such as Ray Kurzweil, Kevin Warwick and Elon Musk who view the current developments as positive things, I think that they're playing with fire, and that this technology is a very slippery slope which can be used for good or for evil. It all depends on who controls it. Personally, I hope that I do not live to see the day when the human body is enhanced to such a profound degree by melding human flesh and bone with the aforementioned modern technologies. I think it would be an abomination in the sight of God. What do you think?

With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you have found it informative, enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!

For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.

Albert Einstein and God
Is Science Better Than the Bible?
Robot Wars and Skynet: Is Sci-Fi Becoming Our Reality?
Science and Technology: The Forbidden Knowledge?

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Please avail yourself of other areas of the Bill's Bible Basics website. There are many treasures for you to discover.