Yes, the future could be Orwellian if AI takes hold, says Graham Bridger
A recent discussion about the implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) between Prof John Lennox and the former deputy prime minister of Australia, John Anderson, reveals the broader implications for our existence, particularly in relation to the Christian faith.
We had the privilege of listening to Lennox, an Oxford professor of maths, and former politician and National Party leader Anderson, who both have years of experience in monitoring how society has been rapidly affected by these massive advances in technology.
George Orwell’s famous book, ‘1984’, is now being quoted by more and more people because the future it painted is here.
Technology has reached the point where governments can (and do, in China) exercise total authoritarian control over populations.
The development of high-powered technology seems unstoppable because, on the face of it, it is highly exciting and brings with it so much convenience, particularly to younger people. But I fear it will inevitably lead to authoritarianism because it has no moral compass.
What does it mean to be human?
What made this such an important discussion was that John Lennox, an experienced speaker on Christian apologetics, is able to bring to bear decades of experience in having discussed the Christian faith with so many well-known atheists, such as Richard Dawkins. Lennox demonstrates how faith affects our thinking – or not as the case may be!
The interview with Lennox and Anderson on AI was recorded nearly a year ago, before the launch of ChatGPT, so Lennox’s warnings are becoming more urgent by the day. He says that without a means of determining truth from fiction, illusions from reality, and lies from deceit then we too, like AI itself, will have no moral compass.
Indeed, unless we shake ourselves and look the coming of advanced AI firmly in the eye, we could easily lose our understanding of what it means to be human. AI is now a part of our everyday lives, whether we know it or not, but if we simply ignore the realities of what it can mean, we will become even more helpless in conducting our own lives as free humans.
The most important questions of life
We must relate the development of AI to what the Bible says about life’s big questions: “Who are we?” “Why are we alive?” “What is our purpose?” “What is God’s end goal for humanity?”
If we lose track of these big questions, we will be lost as human beings and simply subjected to a haphazard and unpredictable life that is meaningless.
Have we lost the ability to ‘think’ critically?
The beauty of this discussion lies in the fact that John Lennox is a real ‘thinker’ and someone who can really relate the Bible and the Gospel of Christ crucified to how we should conduct our lives and think of AI technology.
But we all need to begin to ‘think’ critically if we are to retain a true sense of what it means to be human because the lines are now being crossed daily. AI is not something we need only to think about in the years to come, it is with us and affecting everyone’s lives now, whether we know it or not.
Lest we forget, freedom is now under severe attack in the Western world and the ability to think clearly for oneself – as a human being – has been brought into question, particularly during the last three years.
The events that unfolded in 2020 were highly dubious and yet duplicated simultaneously throughout the Western world. Commands by leaders to ‘follow the science’ were repeated ad nauseum throughout, using the same words and phrases while giving the same messages.
I fear high-powered technology will inevitably lead to authoritarianism because it has no moral compass
They all spoke of the need for fear. People responded, presumably because of fear of death or terrible sickness if they didn’t obey the draconian lockdowns that have destroyed the lives of millions and devastated economies beyond repair. In the main, they didn’t even stop to question their unalienable God given rights over their own bodies and even if they did, they were soon told that they could kill Granny! The State was at war with the people over something that has since been totally disproven. This event also set the people against the people.
But does ‘thinking’ critically mean we are also seekers of the truth?
It appears that ‘thinking’ people may have one main thing in common. Those who have been prepared to speak openly and honestly and who are prepared to change their minds when presented with facts appear to be ‘seekers of truth’.
As a result, millions are now realising that there has been a highly successful campaign of destruction carried out on a world scale, the like of which we have never seen before. It has been a cleverly (satanically) coordinated campaign which has been in the making for many decades. It was called ‘The Great Reset’.
Fear, manipulation and propaganda
misused for antisocial ones” – Edward Bernays, author of ‘Propaganda’
Perhaps the most important fact that the highly educational discussion between Lennox and Anderson reveals, is just how easily populations can be mass-manipulated by fear into obeying tyrannical leaders and guided by propaganda.
It was indeed most interesting to listen to a recent UK Column interview, where David Scott asked Dr Judith Brown how she first became aware that we, certainly in the UK, were facing a massive propaganda campaign over Covid in March 2020. She had been educated in what propaganda involved and was immediately on guard. But most people are not so prepared.
Unless we are able to convince the leaders of countries to stand firm and say ‘No’ to the WHO we could see the final nail in the coffin of freedom come about during our lifetime
Of course, while the term ‘propaganda’ retains its sinister nature, its more acceptable term is ‘public relations’. The man who became known as the ‘father of public relations’ is Edward Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud, who wrote the book ‘Propaganda’ in 1928.
Bernays’ book is a must for any thinking person who wants to understand more about how propaganda works. Drawing on the insights of his Uncle Sigmund – a relationship Bernays was always quick to mention – he developed an approach that he dubbed “the engineering of consent”. Bernays started advising big US corporations; it was Bernays who persuaded women that smoking was fashionable and soothing; in other campaigns he harnessed the power of fear.
I fear high-powered technology will inevitably lead to authoritarianism because it has no moral compass
His success led to his methods being copied; Goebbels was an admirer, despite Bernays being a Jew. Bernays learned of his Nazi follower in 1933 and later recounted in his 1965 autobiography:
They were using my books as the basis for a destructive campaign against the Jews of Germany. This shocked me, but I knew any human activity can be used for social purposes or misused for antisocial ones.”
Frogs in the boiling pot – ‘Groupthink’
With Westerners having lived such a highly entertained, cushioned and comparatively cosy life over many decades, we were not capable of seeing through the creeping evil techniques used that showed authoritarianism emerging in so-called democratic nations. As many have commented over the past few months, the population are like ‘frogs in the saucepan’ who are slowly being boiled to death but don’t realise that unless they jump out from the pan while they still can, it will all be over.
I fear high-powered technology will inevitably lead to authoritarianism because it has no moral compass
Instead, what we have witnessed is a demonstration by millions who actually prefer to follow the crowd and to have others think for them and this is what has led millions into great deception. The book, ‘Global Warming – A Case Study in Groupthink’ by the late Christopher Booker (sadly he died in 2019) is a classic in revealing how the masses will go along with lies and deception rather than be prepared to show humility and to take a stand for truth regardless. There are numerous reasons why this occurs.
Only months to go before the globalist tyranny goal is achieved
It seems that only now are more people beginning to realise that the world is being led into tyranny and authoritarianism on a global scale. The latest moves to grab total control over the sovereignty of nations by the World Health Organisation (WHO) is, for example, still not understood or even appreciated by millions and yet there only remain a few months before it will have been achieved.
James Roguski, a well-known independent journalist, reveals all the details of why in a recent discussion between himself and Dr John Campbell. He declares that unless we are able to convince the leaders of countries to stand firm and say ‘No’ to the WHO we could see the final nail in the coffin of freedom come about during our lifetime.
The Bible tells us that God will send a powerful delusion
In the Bible, Jesus emphasised the need to keep watch and pray, yet I hear few ask why he did so. After all, what are we to keep watch for?
In Matthew 24, Jesus emphasised four times that the most important thing we must do is to ensure that we are not deceived. In 2 Thessalonians 2:11, we are told that a time will come when God will send a powerful delusion that will prevent people from coming to love the truth. People ask why God would do such a thing. In verses 9-12, we have the answer:
“The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.”
Technology has now reached the point where governments can exercise total authoritarian control over populations
It is my personal belief that this verse doesn’t just refer to all those who fail to acknowledge Jesus as Lord of the whole earth. It also means those who fail to recognise that before Jesus appears, the false Christ (Antichrist) will first appear as saviour.
But because pride and lack of humility so often prevent people from acknowledging reality, deception is allowed to become rampant. But that’s just my own opinion.
There is no doubt at all that the populations of the world are now being deceived at a rate never known before. Confusion is everywhere and people say that they do not know what or who to believe any more.
This is quite understandable, because never before have citizens faced such an onslaught of lies and deception, especially from their own national and world leaders.
Where is the hope?
Several times during my Christian life, I have been asked, even by church leaders who should know better, where the hope is. I answer just as it says to do in 1 Peter 3:15-22.
As John Lennox ends his discussion on AI with John Anderson, he too, as a Christian, reminds us that there is only one hope and only one truth to believe, which is that the man called Jesus came to this earth over 2,000 years ago to show the world what God was like and that only he has the power to bring life out of death. Only Jesus has the power to give us the gift of eternity that God first put in the heart of man. (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
We were reminded that globalists unintentionally demonstrate this truth time and time again in that they continually seek technological advances to achieve eternal life. But whereas they seek this power through technology, they are at the same time ignoring the fact that humanity has already been offered this amazing gift for free – the gift of eternal life through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
But the hope consists of so much more
When Jesus returns to planet Earth, the Bible tells us that he will bring justice and righteousness into full view during what it calls the Millennium (a 1,000-year reign). For true born-again Christians who have been watching, praying and longing for his return, this will be a time of rejoicing beyond anything we could ever have known.
Just what is going to unfold during this reign on the earth before all is finally wrapped up by God, we can only imagine. But it is immensely exciting to think about and dwell upon as we will have new, immortal bodies just like Jesus and will be directly under his authority during his reign. What an amazing time this will be!
In the meantime, keep watch and pray that you might see the truth of “God with us” and receive the gift of an eternal existence with our one true Father God that leads us into this whole new realm of life both on this earth and beyond.
Graham Bridger’s background in banking, fund management and financial strategic planning led him to begin researching the root causes of the 2008 global financial debt crisis. In his 2018 book, ‘Converging Signs and Rejection of Truth – Are We Ready for the Return of Jesus Christ?’ he considers how current world events are in line with Bible prophecy, with the need to prepare for the Messiah’s return. His books are available from his website, Illusion2Reality.com.
“I knew any human activity can
be used for social purposes or
misused for antisocial ones”
– Edward Bernays, author of
‘Propaganda’