Unitarian Universalism is a faith in which we mutually support one another in our search for meaning and truth. There's no single book to which we look for guidance in living ethical and meaningful lives. We look to many books -- and films, podcasts, newspapers, and more. We assemble our beliefs through interactions with others and our life experiences.
We're a bit like ChatGPT in that regard — and ChatGPT is a lot like us.
Behold Artificial Intelligence. What a wonder. Awesome in its mystery and power.
“A.I. is probably the most important thing humanity has ever worked on. I think of it as something more profound than electricity or fire,” said Google chief executive Sundar Pichai in 2018.
See especially how AI is driving development of the brain/computer interface. We don't know how rapidly A.I. will make its entry into humans, but we know it's coming.
Read The Battle for Your Brain by Nita Fahaney. Or listen to this podcast. Or read our story.
All faith communities now confront questions that a few years ago were asked only in sci-fi films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Her, and Ex Machina.
As UUs, what do we make of this? What stance shall we take on it?
“It seems to me that the decisions we make right now will determine what the heritage of AI will be for future humanity,” says the Rev. Scott Tayler, whom we thank for givinf us us these nine great themes as prompts for the 2023-24 liturgical year.
“The longer we delay in having a clear view of what our relationship to AI needs to be, the less influence we will have. The question, it seems to me, is ‘Do we want to shape the heritage of AI or will AI itself determine its heritage?’”
See the Unitarian Universalist Interpretation of Ayudha Puja we’ve scheduled for Sunday, October 22. For more services to consider on the Heritage theme, see our suggestions below.
Remembering Michael Servetus:
To Be ’Burned with Your Book to Ashes’
As UUs, we have a long tradition of being freethinkers. Michael Servetus wrote the first systematic description of antitrinitarian thought, challenging both the Catholic and Protestant churches to rethink the elaborate apparatus of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
The Calvinst Council of Judges that found him guilty of heresy decreed that he be burned on the stake on October 26, 1553. This is the first date I suggest we commemorate in our Heritage service.
This is the charge the Council levied against Servetus:
“You, Servetus, have for a long time promulgated false and thoroughly heretical doctrine, despising all remonstrances and corrections. You have with malicious and perverse obstinacy sown and divulged even in printed books opinions against God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, in a word against the fundamentals of the Christian religion, and that you have tried to make a schism and trouble the Church of God by which many souls may have been ruined and lost, a thing horrible, shocking, scandalous and infectious. And you have had neither shame nor horror of setting yourself against the divine Majesty and the Holy Trinity, and so you have obstinately tried to infect the world with your stinking heretical poison...
This was their penalty:
For these and other reasons, desiring to purge the Church of God of such infection and cut off the rotten member, having taken counsel with our citizens and having invoked the name of God to give just judgment ... having God and the Holy Scriptures before our eyes speaking in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we now in writing give final sentence and condemn you, Michael Servetus, to be bound and taken to Champel and there attached to a stake and burned with your book to ashes. And you shall finish your days and give an example to others who would commit the like.
We asked ChatGPT to describe the October day on which Servetus was burned at the stake. You might like to use this in your Ayudha Puja service as an example of AI’s remarkable creative power.
It’s quite a piece. Consider particularly this stirring conclusion, generated by self-learning algorithms in a “mere” machine:
And so, on that dreadful day, Michael Servetus paid the ultimate price for his unyielding beliefs, becoming a martyr to his cause. His execution left a scar on the collective memory of humanity, a reminder of the dangers of religious intolerance and the cost of daring to challenge the established order. The echo of his cries and the scent of burning flesh would forever haunt the minds of those who bore witness to the brutal scene in the square in Geneva, a chilling reminder of the darkest depths of human history.
More Freethinking:
The Transcendentalists
We all met Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau in high school English but no one ever told us they were Unitarians. Among other things, the Transcendentalists gave us the Voluntary Principle. They believed their churches should be governed by the people who joined its covenant, contributing whatever they're able.
They also stood for the Social Principle. That meant they considered themselves to be free to meet between services and discuss anything they chose. They could educate each other on the issues and mobilize for the social good, such as establishing a home for women who were fleeing domestic abuse. Way back in the 1840s, they were looking around, asking, "Who's doing this important work?"
Nobody was, so they did.
"Deeds, not creeds." This also is our heritage.
Enter TransHumanism
Times have changed. We've seen nearly 200 years of scientific and technological progress, and so now in UUism we have our great TransHumanists, including:
Ray Kurzweil, who’s developing new technologies at Google and is the thinker most credited with envisioning the Singularity, the moment in time at which our machines take control of their own evolution;
James Hughes, the former chief of the World TransHumanist Association and now head of a "technoprogressive" TransHumanist think tank at headquartered at UMass Boston.
Steve Fuller, author of Humanity 2.0 and director of Humanity-Plus, the new name that the World Transhumanist Association has adopted for itself.
These are smart people with a firm grounding in science and a keen ability to look down the road and see what’s coming. In keeping with the Heritage theme, we might focus one Sunday service on the thoughts and forecasts of these UU thought leaders.
In a remarkable 2005 sermon, Hughes called on Unitarian Universalism to be a shelter for refugees from more rigid faiths shaken by the transformation of the human into new forms.
"The celebration of the miracle of human intelligence is at the core of our humanist creed and it's the common root between the two belief systems of transhumanism and Unitarian Universalism."
He continued:
"We Unitarian Universalists have a unique understanding that humanity is called to be a co-Creator of our own future. We see no bright shining line drawn by God that proscribes the limits of our creativity. As a species, we can transcend ourselves."
"This desire to transcend the human condition is one of the most fundamental spiritual drives we know. We are hard-wired to seek out dances and chants, sweat lodges and fasts, fermented berries and bitter mushrooms, that scramble our routine modes of perception. Since the invention of symbolic culture we have been praying, making offerings, going on pilgrimages, in search of healing, eternal youth, transcendent knowledge, the power of flight and transformation."
Technology's potential to transform the human is no longer a matter of mere speculation by sci-fi writers. Tech giants and startups alike are developing new technologies to improve humans and make us more capable.
There's a TransHumanist aspect to virtually every religion. In his Resurrection, Christ evolves into an eternal spirit. In our own faith tradition, human improvement was a constant theme for our Transcendentalists.
"We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents," Emerson wrote in "Self-Reliance."
Human nature is not fixed. We can evolve into something more. Something divine, Emerson suggests.
"Human nature and the human condition will be very different in the future, and the way we're going to make it different is through technology," says Ted Peters in a remakable presentation that's easily found on his website.
Its title: The Future of TransHumanism as a Religious Movement. A founding member of AI and Faith, he teaches seminars in systematic theology and ethics at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.
"Technology really does change things," Peters says. "There's no doubt about that. We foresee the feasibility of redesigning the human condition, including such parameters as the inevitability of aging and limitations on human and artificial intellects."
'Technological Enchantment':
The Case of ChatGPT
Especially if you're interested in developing a service in connection with our UU Interpretation of Ayuda Puja on October 22 (or on any date of your choosing in October), you may want to join a conversation we’re aiming to schedule with Robert Geraci, professor of religious studies at Manhattan College and a remarkable thinker at the intersection of science and faith.
"The more advanced our technologies become, the more mysterious are their outcomes and the more their production exceeds our capacity to understand them," he writes in Temples of Modernity.
"Technological enchantments are always sources of meaning and value that continue doing the work of traditional religious practice by providing opportunities for community building, ethical reflection, experience of transcendence, and more."
Has any technology "enchanted" us more than ChatGPT and the entire range of algorithmically inventive "AIs" that proliferating everywhere? What are we to make of them? And where is AI leading us?
You'll find more on Geraci's thought's about Ayudha Puja here. When we have a date and time for this conversation, we’ll share it here.
Ayudha Puja and the Value of Human Work
"It is in taking a moment to contemplate and appreciate our tools that we grow closer to understanding and right thinking about them," writes UU Boca Raton's Ron Roth in the sermon he has drafted for our Unitarian Universalist Interpretation of Ayudha Puja on October 22.
"Few tools achieve the same fear, hype, and misunderstanding as Artificial Intelligence. No other tool has the same potential to disrupt work as we know it. It has already begun, but it is also meant to be a force for good in this world. Its use and development has spiritual, moral, and ethical implications worth discussing and advocating."
Worship Services Suggested by ChatGPT
From Ancient Wisdom to Technological Marvels:
Honoring Our Heritage
This worship service will set the stage by reflecting on the rich history of human innovation and knowledge. It will explore the development of various technologies throughout history that have contributed to the growth of civilization and how these advancements have shaped our understanding of the world and ourselves.
The Intersection of Minds:
Exploring Our Shared Heritage
This worship service will emphasize the interconnectedness of humanity through technology. It will highlight how the brain/computer interface offers new ways to understand shared experiences and emotions and how it shapes our collective heritage as a global community.
Ethical Foundations:
Navigating the Future of Heritage and AI
This worship service will center on the ethical dimensions of AI and the brain/computer interface, recognizing the importance of preserving human dignity, autonomy, and cultural heritage while embracing technological advancements.
Curated by:
SUBMISSIONS
We’re collaborating with Soul Matters and AI and Faith in providing Unitarian Universalist ministers, religious educators, and worship teams compelling materials to support the “AI conversation” in their sanctuaries. We invite your input in expanding on any of these additional Soul Matters themes which we’ll explore with AI perspectives in the 2023-24 liturgical year:
November: Generosity
December: Mystery
January: Liberating Love
February: Justice & Equity
March: Transformation
April: Interdependence
May: Pluralism