What do the military, autonomous killing machines, human nature and Jesus have in common? The following standard….
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” Jesus in Matthew 7:1-2
Is Jesus saying we’re not allowed to discern what is right and wrong? No. But He is warning us that we better measure up to the standard we judge others with.
This is applicable whether you’re a believer or not. Check out how this plays out with the following…
Killer Robots
In 2014, Governments involved in the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) will be meeting in Geneva to discuss issues related to “lethal autonomous weapons systems,” or what some have dubbed “killer robots.”
One may think it’s far-fetched to worry about killer robots. After all, we’re decades from making them. However, given the US Department of Defense released a
Directive on the use of them in late 2012, this isn’t just a theoretical concern.
I, Human
More than theoretical is the spiritual application of this. Killer robots and spirituality? Yes, read on…
Isaac Asimov was one of science fiction’s greatest writers. His short story collection called “I, Robot” inspired a 2004 movie of the same name.
In it, Asimov imagined a future which routinely uses human-like robots as servants. These robots are programmed with the following Three Laws of Robotics:
- A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
- A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
- A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Upon reading these laws it occurred to me that if you substitute the word “robot” for the word “human”, you can see from our rather tragic history that we can’t even do that ourselves. Just check out
Genesis 4:8 to see how Cain got on with Able.
The creator cannot do the things commanded of the creation. Such is our fallen state.
With all our concerns of the possible problems of “lethal autonomous weapons systems”, perhaps our efforts would be better spent working with God on our “lethal rebellious spiritual heart”.
As one commentator on the subject put it so well…
Killer robots and power-mad AIs are the staples of cheap science fiction, but fixating on these types of threats allow us to avoid the complexities of our own mundane realities. It is a reflection – or indictment – of our society that the roles we are finding for robots – fighting our wars and looking after the elderly – are the roles that we are reluctant to fill ourselves. Putting robots into these roles may fix part of the problem, but doesn’t address the underlying issues, and even worse perhaps allows us as a society to ignore them. Robots fighting our battles make war easier, and robots looking after the elderly makes it easier to ignore our obligations and societal strain that comes with an aging population. As such, worrying about the moral framework for androids is often a distraction from our own ethical failings.
Brings to mind two verses…
“The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?”
Jeremiah 17:9
“Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.”
Psalm 51:10
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Kath Goh
Great article Kev. Thanks for sharing.
Kevin.Tam
You’re most welcomed and praise God. Thank you for your comments, it helps guide the content of this site. Pass it on 🙂
Overcoming Evil 3 -
[…] is everywhere, especially in our hearts. From there, dark actions erupt nearer to home and further abroad. In the minds of some, the […]