Vampire Weekend's Surprising Jewish Stories
3 min read
Humans are the only beings who live between two worlds, the physical and the spiritual, and who have the capacity to unite them through our actions.
Geoffrey Hinton, known as the “Godfather of Artificial Intelligence”, recently made a statement that got me thinking: "It's entirely possible that humanity is just a passing stage in the evolution of intelligence. We have discovered the secret of immortality. The bad news is that it's not for us."
The idea that AI could surpass human intelligence isn't a plot out of Black Mirror. As early as 1965, British mathematician I.J. Good was convinced that machines would eventually become self-aware and surpass our intelligence. AI visionary Ray Kurzweil even coined the term "technological singularity" to describe this theoretical point in the future. Kurzweil thought we would get there by 2045, but given the rate of progress, it might be much sooner.
Mankind loves the idea of being the pinnacle of existence -- creators who are the smartest and most powerful. Is it possible that we are close to being dethroned by our own inventions? And if that happens, what will become of us? Will we remain relevant, or will we simply become a footnote in the annals of history, just another step in the evolutionary chain of existence?
An answer may be found by understanding another type of superior beings described in Jewish sources: the angels.
The Talmud recounts that when Moses ascended Mount Sinai to receive the Torah, the angels asked, "What is this mortal doing among us?"
God replied, "He has come to receive the Torah."
The angels were unimpressed. "Are you going to give something as valuable as the Torah to mortals? The Torah should remain in heaven!"
But Moses was undeterred, arguing that the Torah was indeed intended only for human beings. "God, the Torah that you are giving me, what does it say? 'I am the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt'" Then Moses asked the angels, “Did you descend to Egypt? Angels do not need to rest on Shabbat, they do not have parents whom they must honor, they do not have envy that could lead them to steal.”
The angels agreed that the Torah should be given to humans.
Although the angels exist on a higher spiritual plane, they lack something that only human beings have: free will.
Human beings are comprised of an earthly body and a spiritual soul, living between two worlds, the physical and the spiritual. This dichotomy creates the tension point of free will. We are surrounded by the constant struggle of channeling our physical drives and elevating ourselves, and thereby lift the world, or choosing the opposite, and let our animal nature rule. Each person has the agency to create or destroy, to choose life or death.
Angels do not have this choice. They are spiritual robots compelled to do God’s bidding.
Angels are completely spiritual beings; robots are completely physical. No matter how advanced artificial intelligence becomes, it will never dethrone the human being’s role as the physical-spiritual chooser whose mission is to elevate himself and the world with him.
Human beings will always remain relevant. Every word we say, every action we take, has infinite repercussions. We have the ability to create worlds, elevate our existence and reach transcendence, something that neither angels or robots will ever have.
