Although the intersection of faith and artificial intelligence is a modern topic, it can be seen as a new version of an old question famously posed by Tertullian: what does Athens have to do with Jerusalem? Today’s podcast guest, Derek Schuurman—computer scientist, author, and professor at Calvin University—rephrases that question for those living in the age of AI: what does Silicon Valley have to do with Jerusalem?

In order to answer this question, Derek posits that it is vital to have an ethical imagination that is formed by story, viewing ourselves as participants in the narrative of Creation, the Fall, and Redemption. When our daily actions are suffused and shaped by this narrative, technology—along with the rest of our daily lives—is taken up into that story. 

Derek and Gretchen play out what this story-shaped ethics looks like in relation to technological questions. Are computer bugs the result of original sin? What does open source software have to do with Genesis? What’s the difference between predestination and technological determinism, and what do both mean for our freedom? Listen to their conversation as they ponder how we might sanctify technology for the glory of God’s kingdom.

  • “God cares about technology. Our faith does not hinder us from cultural participation, but it actually equips us to be able to be salt and light in those different areas. It's a response of obedience to God's command, to unfold the latent potential in creation.”

  • While programming “bugs” are inherent to computer development and man’s finite nature, bugs that lead to harm through bad techniques, inadequate testing, etc are the result of sin

  • “The thing about finiteness and fallenness is we need to accept the former, and fight the latter. So we need to distinguish between them”

  • Scripture indicates the possibility of earthly technology and culture being sanctified in the new heavens and the new earth

  • Since the purpose of a computer is numbers/calculation, and math is part of the beauty of God’s creation, we can begin to imagine what computers’ sanctified use might be

  • Technicism: making an idol of technology as something that can solve all humanity’s problems, both new and old

  • “The original sin in the garden was one of wanting human autonomy—to be able to go it on our own. I think a lot of people see technology as the route to achieving the new heavens and new earth, but without God, doing it on our own.”

  • “And of course, the problem with idols is they don't deliver, and often they demand everything”

  • Using case studies (IE the trolley problem) to teach ethics posits it as something infrequently used and remote from everyday life

  • When our decisions flow from a sense of being immersed in a story, ethics becomes a holistic and comprehensive part of our lives 

  • N.T. Wright: the New Testament doesn’t describe virtue ethics, but a Christian character that is communal, involving the work of the Holy Spirit, becoming more like Jesus

  • A beginning question for AI and ethics: what ought or ought not be automated? —Technological determinism: the belief that technology is an autonomous force in control of our lives

  • God’s sovereignty and our freedom are like two sides of one coin; so also with the idea about technological determinism and our freedom

  • “We belong body and soul, life and death, to our faithful savior, Jesus Christ. It's a pastoral, comforting thing. But it doesn't release us of responsibility; God still calls us to act responsibly, and we live before the face of God. And we're called to act and respond obediently also in the cultural area of technology”

  • While technology forces us to accept the terms before getting the app, God provides freedom by giving us access to the world regardless of our response to him

  • Some science fiction (such as Star Trek) takes a utopian view of technology; however most is pessimistic

  • Technology is neither the savior nor the villain; we can’t sub technology in for Satan or for God

Beatrice Institute is supported in part by Henne Jewelers and The Pittsburgh Foundation.