The last few days at our science camp we have been experimenting with and learning more about robotics. We made a simple circuit, tested an electric motor, and built a robot bug out of a toothbrush. We also had a few experiments that looked at the way machines learn. I am far from an expert in robotics, but I am a savvy googeler and according to my googeling there are two basic ways machines learn. Either a machine has to be programed with lines of code that tell it exactly what to do, when to do it, and how long it is to be done or a machine has to be provided a series of examples that build a database from which the machine can compare and contrast future information. The children at our camp programed Minecraft characters to move and aliens to dance and they taught a machine how to recognize the difference between a smile and a frown.
Arguably, making robot bugs and programing an alien to dance are not what you would call advanced robotics, but I think overall the children had fun. I think the teens who ran the camp and the adults who organized the camp had fun. Robotics, at least at the level we were experimenting with and learning about, is fun. It is a lot more fun than the dystopian future Hollywood imagines when they tell stories of robots like the Terminator, the Matrix, or Megan. In these stories machines with artificial intelligence rise up to fight against their makers. That seems to be a common concern for people when it comes to the field of robotics. The fear seems to be that if we make these machines too capable too intelligent, they will rebel against us.
I can’t help but wonder if our fear of a robot rebellion is a case of art imitating life. You see, the idea of an artificial intelligence rebelling against its creator didn’t originate in Hollywood. That story is approximately 6,000 years old and was first performed in a garden called Eden.
Unlike every other story ever told there is very little background information I can give for this story. In fact, our story begins at a time when the universe is described as “formless”, “empty”, and “dark”[1]. But then the omnipotent (all-powerful) Creator spoke, and light streamed from His lips and pierced the darkness. He continued to speak and by the power of His word He dictated all creation into existence. In a matter of days, the heavens were filled with the sun, moon, and stars; the seas teemed with whales, and dolphins, and sting rays, and turtles, and fishes of all kinds; and the land was filled with lush vegetation, massive dinosaurs, mighty lions, majestic eagles, and all sorts of other creatures from the creepy crawly to the cute and cuddly.
All creation came into existence at a miraculously swift pace, but then on the sixth day, just as He was about finished with His work, the Creator pauses for solemn deliberation. He said, “26 Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” The Creator’s final creation was to be His greatest creation. Mankind was to rule over all that had been created, not with a tyrannical iron fist that is so common among the rulers of our time, but rather mankind was to rule over creation with kindness and compassion. He was to cultivate the rich vegetation that grew from the land and nurture the creatures swam in the seas, flew through the skies, and moved along the ground. In short mankind was created to be the caretaker of creation.
To equip mankind for this task the Creator fashions the body of mankind like a craftsman sculpting clay or an artisan painting a canvass. Then after His masterpiece was fully formed, the Creator did something different for mankind than He had done for anything else in all of creation. The Creator “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life”[2] and filled mankind with an eternal soul.
Having formed and fashioned the body and having animated it with divine breath, there was one more thing mankind needed to be the caretakers of creation. Mankind needed intelligence. So, the Creator “27 created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Unlike the plants and animals that had been created, mankind was not to be guided by stimuli or instinct. Mankind was given intelligence, but not an artificial intelligence like that given to a robot. Mankind’s intelligence was not to be a series of programed movements or a downloaded database of examples to be compared and contrasted. It was not an artificial intelligence that was given to mankind, it was an actual intelligence described by the Creator as “the image of God”.
With the image of God mankind had the intelligence needed to able to function as the caretaker of creation. This intelligence was soon put on display. The Creator “brought all the beast of the field and birds of the air” to the man “to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature that was its name”[3]. You see, the man was smart, he was insightful, he was intuitive, but his intelligence went beyond that. The image of God allowed mankind to know his Creator, not simply know Him as the higher power Who had formed and fashioned him but know what his Creator desired of him; to know how to live his life in a way that pleased his Creator. This knowledge was not programmed into mankind like some sort of code. Mankind did not have to have this knowledge downloaded like a database. Mankind was created with this knowledge when he was created in the image of God.
The Creator gave His masterpiece this intelligence so that we could live in harmony with the rest of creation and enjoy a perfect peace with our Creator. But what happened next is why I suggested the movies we make about robot rebellions are a case of art imitating life. Though mankind possessed a perfect knowledge of Who his Creator was and how his Creator wanted him to live his life, mankind chose to be deceived and attempted to rise up against his Creator. But unlike most Hollywood movies where the machine uprising is a terrifying success, the uprising of mankind was a terrifying failure. Mankind lost the image of God. He no longer knew what his Creator wanted; he no longer knew how to live his life in a way that pleased his Creator. As a result, his ability to be the caretaker of creation was compromised. To make matters worse, all creation became tainted with mankind’s rebellion and soon turned on its caretaker; the animals he was created to care for attacked him and eventually the ground he was created to cultivate covered him. But worst of all was the dystopian future that awaited him. Because of mankind’s rebellion against his Creator his future was an eternal damnation full of pain and suffering.
This is where the story of mankind’s rebellion would have ended, this is where our story would have ended, if the Creator Himself had not intervened. As the rebellious man and woman stood before the Creator and faced the consequences of their action, the Creator spoke not of damnation but of restoration. The creator told His creation how He was going to become one of them. He would have a body formed and fashioned just like theirs but instead of being created in the image of God He would continue to be God. The Creator would become part of His own creation; God would become also man.
The Creator who became part of His creation would be known by the name Jesus. Like the first man and woman Jesus knew the Creator; knew what He wanted, knew how to live His life in a way that would please the Creator. But unlike the first man and woman Jesus did not choose to rebel against the Creator. Instead, Jesus chose to do what mankind was created to do; Jesus chose to do what the Creator wanted all men to do, Jesus chose to honor, serve, and obey the Creator and in so doing Jesus pleased the Creator. But that was not enough for Jesus. Jesus wanted the Creator to once more be pleased with His creation to once more be pleased with us. So, Jesus chose to pay for mankind’s rebellion with His own life; He suffered the dystopian future of the damned so that we could be redeemed and restored.
And now, because of Jesus, the image of God is recreated in the hearts of those who believe. Sadly, because the corrupting consequence of mankind’s rebellion, the image of God is only partially restored in us. Eventually it will be completely restored. When Jesus comes again to restore all creation to its original state of perfection, we who have been restored will know what the Creator desires of us and how to live a life that honors, serves, and obeys our Creator. But, as long as we live in this sinful world, the image of God that has been recreated in us must coexist inside the rebellious heart we inherited from that first man and woman. As a result, we now only know our Creator in part and sometimes (oftentimes) we struggle to know how to honor serve and obey our Creator. Thankfully our Creator supplements our compromised intelligence with a written record of Who He is, what He has done for us, and how we can live our lives in a way that pleases Him. If you would like to learn more about your Creator and how you can live for Him, I invite you to come back next Sunday or talk to me about that Christianity Bible class that is advertised in the bulletin and together we will up that written record up and expand the image of God that has been recreated inside of us.
I think if more people in Hollywood knew how Jesus came to restore the image of God inside the rebellious hearts of mankind, they would be less inclined to tell scary stories about robot rebellions that end in doom and destruction. Maybe there would be more robot movies about artificial intelligence like Wall-E, Short Circuit, and the Iron Giant. But, regardless of the stories they tell, I am glad our story of rebellion against our Creator ends with our restoration through Jesus. Amen.
[1] Genesis 1:2
[2] Genesis 2:7
[3] Genesis 2:19