Technocalyps // Rise of the Hackers | The C.S. Lewis Study Group

Some may consider the following presentations to be exaggerations of fact and might even harbor a fear of being compared to the likes of Chicken Little, or The Little Boy Who Cried Wolf if it were to become known that they had even considered these things in a half-way serious light. Therefore I’ve hot linked The World’s Last Night, an essay written by Lewis just beneath this page introduction. While a sensitivity to public perception should be considered, and rest assured, speaking for us at The C.S. Lewis Study Group, it is–and even though it is, we still think that this concern should not deter us from looking at these sorts of issues with an open eye in order to ponder the real possibilities that modern/postmodern technologies could hold in store for us. However, given that, we think that we should keep squarely before our minds the fact that no man knows, nor can know, when and on what day our savior returns. To quote from The World’s Last Night:

“But how can the characters in a play guess the plot? We are not the playwright, we are not the producer, we are not even the audience. We are on the stage . . . But we think thus because we keep on assuming that we know the play. We do not know the play. We do not even know whether we are in Act I or Act V’ We do not know who are the major and who the minor characters.The Author knows”.

With that said, I would like to strongly recommend that you consider what Lewis conveys to us in this essay. As always he stands as a prime example of the kind of balanced perspective and a kind of level headedness that we should all strive for while facing the inevitabilities that our faith both sets before us and insists upon. It is part and parcel of our faith as it establishes itself at the center of our beliefs.

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C.S. Lewis

==> The Worlds Last Night <==

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==> A Suggestion <==

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Technocalyps

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The Transhuman

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Part I: The Transhumans

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Part II: Preparing for the Singularity

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Part III: The Digital Messiah

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To try and come to a theoretical understanding with what many of the issues this series deals with you may want to visit our page that describe a book which explores some of the ideas and aspirations that many of the people who advocate for these kinds of technologies hold dear. If this interests you follow this hotlink to the ==> Techgnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information page.

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PBS’ Nova has produced a very interesting and, what seems to me, a very germane program to this topic titled Rise of the Hackers. This program provides an excellent illustration of just how far some of these kinds of technologies have been developed all the while carrying with them potentially grave consequences for all of us. The entire program can be viewed via the free listing off of You Tube hot linked just beneath the image below. For those interested in what Lewis had to say concerning the drift of technology this is both a very worthwhile and informative.

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To View this Program ==> Click Here.

To learn more about ==> Stuxnet-The First Cyber Guided Missilie

==> Thinking About Cybersecurity & Warfare

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On Oct. 9, 2018, John Lennox addressed the critical questions surrounding artificial intelligence and how the future of artificial intelligence bears on a Christian vision of reality. This event was hosted at the Zacharias Institute in Alpharetta, GA, and is part of a new series called #TrendingQuestions. For more information about upcoming installments in this series visit: https://rzim.org/trending-questions/

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To resume the thread of thought left dangling at the conclusion of the Technocylps series I thought some of our visitors might find fascinating a promotional video intended to garner interest for a movement they call Russia 2045, which you can find just underneath the Frontline documentary In the Age of AI below.

Russian media magnate Dmitry Itskov launched the 2045 Initiative in 2011, which imagines a human race no longer the subject of death or other limitations. Dimitry is in a process of bringing together leading thinkers around the vision of a technologically transcendent future. James Herrick writes in → Visions of Technological Transcendence: “World renowned spiritual leaders mingle with leading scientists at Initiative gatherings such as those convened in Moscow in 2011 and New York in 2013. The presence of priests and lamas is in keeping with the organization’s “main goals,” which include creating social conditions that promote “the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on five principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.” (p. 3).

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→ Transhumaism and the Postmodern Future ←

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Click => Here to hear one time democratic presidential candidate and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio discussing automation with Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

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Elon Musk & Neural Lace

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In order see where this study is germane to Lewis’s work please go to

Modern Culture and the Death of Human Nature page and then The Abolition of Man.

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God is Dead

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For those who would like to think about these issues a bit further you may want to watch this presentation on some of the predictions that are being promulgated by futurist Ray Kurzweil, the author of the best-selling book The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology.

Future 2045 Congress: Towards a New Strategy for Human Evolution / New York City, 2013.

To place us within an imaginary grasp of what Ray Kurzweil is suggesting I thought it might be helpful to consider a quote from William Grassie as he in turn is found quoting Bill Bryson as he gives a description of ==> a simple prokaryotic cell from his book A Short History of Nearly Everything.

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For those interested you may want to follow the link below to view a presentation with Kurzweil’s thoughts which concerns our potential for achieving a posture of immortality, click ==> Here

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To hear C.S. Lewis on man’s next real step on the “evolutionary path” (if one can call it that?) the You Tube below is the only surviving talk which Lewis gave on the BBC Broadcasts which were eventually transposed into Mere Christianity.

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What will the year 2084 hold for you–for your friends, for your family, and for our society? Are we doomed to the grim dystopia imagined in George Orwell’s 1984?

In 2084, scientist and philosopher John Lennox will introduce you to a kaleidoscope of ideas: the key developments in technological enhancement, bioengineering, and, in particular, artificial intelligence. You will discover the current capacity of AI, its advantages and disadvantages, the facts and the fiction, as well as potential future implications.

The questions posed by AI are open to all of us. And they demand answers. A book that is written to challenge all readers, no matter your worldview, 2084 shows how the Christian worldview, properly understood, can provide evidence-based, credible answers that will bring you real hope for the future of humanity.

→ 2084

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