About How Does A.I. Play a Role in Grief, Immortality, and Digital Resurrection?
| Authors | Schuurman, Derek C.; First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta |
|---|---|
| Date | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXiBE22kTnY |
Type: Video Recording
Tags: Artificial intelligence, biography, brain, C S Lewis, Calvin, community, computers, creation, death, Enlightenment, eschatology, fall, flourishing, grief, Hope, Humanity, Idolatry, immortality, large language models, machine learning, materialism, new creation, personhood, progress, redemption, reductionism, Reformational worldview, Religion, Science, sin, technicism, Technology, utopia, Worldview
Abstract
Derek talks about his journey connecting faith, grief, computer science, and technology. He begins by talking about his personal life experiences as a background to his vocation as a computer science professor and about his own grief in the death of his spouse. This moves the interview into a discussion of the legitimacy of grief bot avatars and of machines taking an essential role in human interactions. Derek talks about the problems with treating machines as if they are humans. Nevertheless, technology is part of the latent potential of God's good creation, even while it should not be treated as our savior or solution to all our ills, as a God-substitute. Death cannot be overcome, though technology and medicine can improve or extend our lives, promoting human flourishing. In the final analysis, all technological developments have religious impulses, a worldview context. Christians see the central problem in life as sin and God's work as our salvation. God will usher in the new heavens and new earth, though human developments may also be present in sanctified versions. The interview ends with the interviewers reflecting upon Derek's message and whether AI and technological advances might be a bit more instrumental in bringing about new creational possibilities and enriching our human relations. [CJ]