“Chilling” is a word that comes to mind in reading the article published in the “New York Times” on June 11, 2010.
Entitled “Merely Human? That’s So Yesterday,” the article describes a conference held recently in California where forty people paid $15,000.00 each to attend a course sponsored by Singularity University.
“Singularity” is the key word. Those behind this movement have one goal in mind: the merging of humans and machines. Supported generously by the co-founders of Google, the aim is to blend the intelligence of humans with the durability of machines.
Yes, eternal life is in their sights.
Ashlee Vance, author of the article, states the vision of Singularity University:
“…human beings and machines will so effortlessly and elegantly merge that poor health, the ravages of old age and even death itself will all be things of the past.”
Raymond Kurzweil, an outspoken proponent of the University, boasts that he will be able to live for hundreds of years. He will also be able to resurrect the dead, including his own father. He’s helping to produce a movie to be released later this year: “The Singularity Is Near: A True Story About The Future.”
If you wonder whether anyone of intelligence buys into these ideas, Vance notes that hundreds of students worldwide apply for one of the 80 spots in a 10-week graduate course. Those chosen will pay $25,000.00 each to attend.
Long ago, people banded together on an ambitious project: “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves…” (Genesis 11:4, NKJV).
We’re not given all the details behind that project, but God clearly did not approve. To thwart their efforts he imposed different languages. No longer able to communicate, the project was abandoned.
We’re not predicting that Singularity University will be disrupted by Divine intervention. But the ambitions behind it appear to be similar to those in Babel. Man has often attempted to “make a name” for himself, only to see his efforts crash and burn.
The sons of Korah sang a message in Psalm 46, that needs to be heard today: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10).
Hundreds of years later the apostle Paul addressed a group of intellectuals who worshiped every deity but the true God. He reminded them that “they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:27).
Eternal life is already within our grasp (Romans 6:23). Merging people with machines will prove to be futile. Merging people with the will of God is the key.
by Tim Hall