Overview

This book is better described by its subtitle rather than by the rather enigmatic ‘2084’. The reasoning behind the numerical title is of course to mimic the Orwellian concept of ‘1984’. What will the world and human life be like as technology, and in particular Artificial intelligence (AI), develop in the coming decades? Will technological enhancement and bioengineering lead to humans so modifying themselves that they become something else entirely? If so, what implications do these advances have for our worldview and our understanding of God? These questions, and more, are tackled expertly by an author who is no stranger to writing on the big questions of science, nor to providing an intellectual defence of Christianity.

AI and AGI

The first chapter provides an excellent start by ‘Mapping out the territory’. The question ‘What is AI?’ is considered, as is the important distinction between AI and AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). Giving machines ‘minds’ that at least in some ways simulate those of humans is a major part of scientific research today, and one which raises many issues. As Lennox states, the danger of these cognitive technologies is that “people are carried away with the ‘if it can be done, it should be done’ mentality without thinking carefully through potential ethical problems” (p.24)

In the first part of his book, Lennox interacts with those who have already written on this topic. Such authors include novelist Dan Brown (‘Origen’) and C. S. Lewis (‘The Abolition of Man’, ‘That Hideous Strength’), as well as the popular Israeli intellectual and historian, Yuval Harari, whose ‘Homo Deus’ became a bestseller. Lennox is not afraid to examine Harari’s atheistic agenda and take him to task where necessary.

The problem of death

Lennox is also well informed on the transhumanist project and its visionary aims. The quest to upgrade humans and solve ‘the problem of death’ runs parallel to that of AI and the merging of humans and technology into a super-intelligent composite. Lennox finds the warning of Stephen Hawking to be apposite: “The real risk with AI isn’t malice but competence. A super-intelligent AI will be extremely good at accomplishing its goals, and if those goals aren’t aligned with ours we’re in trouble.” (p.49, quoting Hawking, ‘Brief Answers to the Big Questions’)

China is already using AI in order to achieve social control

Social control

Chapter five contains some fascinating pages on the ‘big brother’ aspect of harvesting ‘big data’. The author’s examples from China are particularly chilling, including that country’s Police Cloud System of monitoring people in order to place them in one of seven categories, particularly to root out those who ‘undermine stability.’ Lennox comments, “Some of what George Orwell envisaged for 1984 is already with us, so what it will be like in 2084 is anybody’s guess, although the underlying trend is clear – China is already using AI in order to achieve social control” (p.69)

Outthinking the transhumanists

From chapter eight onwards there is a turn to biblical considerations, especially the question posed in Genesis; ‘What is a human being?’ and the origin of human morality. The author reminds us that real human enhancement comes through Christ and the Holy Spirit. The ultimate human upgrade is to be saved from our sins and be brought into a relationship with God. He warns us that “The transhumanist Homo deus project could be seen as a parody of this Christian teaching” (p.169).

Lennox also asserts that the return of Christ, the man who is God, will come as a great shock to a world busy with its humanist attempts to do what God has already provided for us. Overall, the author’s grasp of biblical exegesis and its applications is as sound as his understanding of science and technology. He wants Christians to think hard about the implications of the resurrection and return of Christ for AI and the race to create Homo deus. If Christian teaching is true, “the race to conquer death as a technical problem will prove to be ultimately futile” (p.187). God has already outthought the transhumanists, whose schemes will seem rather insignificant in comparison.

Sobering conclusion

In particular, Lennox asks the inevitable and challenging question: How far will God permit humans to go before intervening? The Genesis narratives of the Fall, the Flood and Babel illustrate that God’s patience and tolerance of defiance eventually runs out, with devastating consequences.

God has already outthought the transhumanists, whose schemes will seem rather insignificant in comparison

Each chapter is well referenced with endnotes, and the book ends with both a scripture index and a general index. ‘2084’ is an excellent study, which both informs and challenges us to think further about a topic that is already one of the key interfaces between science and Christianity, and which will become increasingly prominent long before we reach 2084.

‘2084’ (240 pages) is published by Zondervan Reflective, and is available from Amazon