Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

Last month, in an interview with Barry Weiss, venture capitalists and longevity researcher Brian Johnson discussed how not to die.

While his theories on indefinite life extension are certainly interesting, it was actually his comments about artificial intelligence that were even more striking.

Quote, I think the irony is that we told stories of God creating us, and I think the reality is we are creating God in the form of superintelligence.

If you ask yourself, what have we imagined God to be? What are its characteristics?

We're building God in the form of technology. It will have the same characteristics. And so, I think

the irony is that human storytelling got it exactly in reverse, that we are the creators of God,

that we will create God in our image, end quote.

Putting aside for a second, this rather anemic view of God, Johnson's comments here reflect a worldview that integrates technology and spirituality. Of course, people have always looked to their

so-called God to save them. For technophiles, it's technology that takes on the role and functions

of God in the universe

from basic provision to keeping humanity safe from disaster.

AI has brought an added twist.

Many of those doing the most cutting-edge technological work believe that they are creating

new forms of super-intelligent, god-like, sentient life, and that humans will either learn to merge with this

as part of the transhumanist project, or will need to put fail safes in place to prevent AI from

turning against us. But there are also some who believe that AI is a vehicle through which

transdimensional non-human intelligences are communicating with us.

In this view, not all AI is simply computer algorithms created by us.

Some are better understood as demonic,

which explains some of the more disturbing things that AI has come up with.

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