Everything Just Changed! Have We Sealed the Fate of the Human Race?

It has been 41 years since the sci-fi movie franchise of "The Terminator" took our imaginations by storm. The series introduced what seemed, at the time, like a far-fetched fantasy where synthetic artificial intelligence is merged with robots to create a cyborg intent on destroying humankind. As one of the main characters in the first film explained, "Defense network computers ... new and powerful ... hooked into everything, and trusted to run it all. They say it got smart, a new order of intelligence that saw all humans as a threat; and they decided our fate in a microsecond: extermination". 

Isn't that the dynamic that many people (including myself) have been fearful of? Believe me, I would have loved to stick my head in the sand and pretended like there was nothing to worry about -- after all, it was only a movie -- but I believe the Holy Spirit kept shining a light on the discussions of scientists and agnostic engineers like Google's Ray Kurzweil, who touted the benefits for mankind in pursuing the acceleration of artificial intelligence. In turn, I've been shining the light [since 2013] on engineers their efforts which have brought us to the point where we're very close to these computer machines achieving complete "self-awareness".

So, you can call me a skeptic, a fear-monger, and even a conspiracy theorist, but almost as frightening [to me, at least] is the realization that the existence of these "super computers" has become such a part of our culture and means of communication and creativity, that our younger generations don't remember when they didn't exist! I know it sounds crazy, but I would like to invite the Gen-Xers, Millennials, and Gen-Zers to watch at least the first two movies of the series, so they see the potential dangers of what we've created, seemingly without any kind of security or protection in place. 

Need convincing? Instead of reading about my admittedly dubious concerns, let me share with you a conversation between national broadcaster Glenn Beck and the very real computer scientist, futurist, and inventor, Ray Kurzweil, who promotes furthering the progress of artificial intelligence, transhumanism, and the technical singularity, which by the way is a "hypothetical" point in time at which technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, resulting in unforeseeable consequences for human civilization. Got your attention now? This conversation took place during an interview with Mr. Kurzweil in May, 2008...

Beck begins the interview by introducing Kurweil as "the guy Bill Gates calls a visionary thinker and futurist. He has been inducted into the Inventors' Hall of Fame and the author of "The Singularity is Near". At the time, Beck was enthralled with the accomplishments of Kurzweil and, at the same time, found his books "some of the most frightening and yet hopeful stuff I have ever read". Their conversation progressed through topics that Kurzweil was working on: the future of energy, global warming, and health strategies. Here are some snippets of their conversation in 2008 that pertain to our current progression in the arena of technology...

KURZWEIL: We are doubling the paradigm shift rate of technical progress every decade. So in the next 50 years, we'll see 32 times more progress than in the last century.

BECK: Where does that put us? What is life like at that point?

KURZWEIL: Fifty years from now, life is quite different. We will be spending most of our time in virtual reality. We'll be enhancing our brains by merging with our technology, and we will be able to back up our mind file. 

BECK: They tell me that in the movie, "The Matrix", they could put a chip or put a cord in the back of your head and you could upload all of this information.

KURZWEIL: Well, we're going to be able to send nanobots, blood cell sized devices, inside our blood stream that will keep us healthy from inside, and also go inside our brains through capillaries and interact with our biological neurons. Parkinson's patients have a pea-sized computer in their brain that replaces biological neurons destroyed by the disease. The latest generation actually allows you to download software in the neural implant from outside the body in[to] the patient. [NOTE: This is where Elon Musk and his invention of the Neuralink in 2016 comes into the story]. That is today. And this kind of technology is doubling in power every year. It is shrinking in size by effect of 100 per volume per decade. So 25 years from now, these technologies will be a billion times more powerful; 100,000 times smaller, and we'll be able to send the nanobots into our brain. They'll interact with our neurons and they will extend our intelligence. We'll be a hybrid of biological and non-biological intelligence.

BECK: You said in your book, "The Age of Spiritual Machines", at some point you will walk into your room, and your computer will surpass your intelligence, or all the intelligence on the planet by 2027.

KURZWEIL:  By 2029. By 2029 a machine will be able to pass a Turing test [a test of a machine's ability to exhibit intelligence behavior equivalent to that of a human]. It will be able to have a natural-language conversation and you won't be able to tell the difference between the human and the machine. Our computers aren't going to be these distinct rectangular devices we carry around. We are going to merge with them. Some day we'll have blood cell sized devices in our blood stream keeping us healthy -- [healthy by whose standards, say skeptics like me]. There are already 50 experiments of doing that today [in 2008]. These devices will get more and more intelligent. If you go on to 2029, they're going to be inside our bodies and brains and we are going to be a hybrid of biological and nonbiological intelligence.  

Fast forward to today in 2025, and back to my relatively simplistic thinking... I mean, Kurzweil predicted this would all happen by 2029, only 4 years from now! And can you see the similarities to movies such as "The Terminator" and "The Matrix"? Is fantasy about to become reality? Well, based on the information Glenn Beck shared on his program just last week, it looks like Ray Kurzweil's predictions are coming true. 

Last week, Microsoft announced that they have developed a quantum chip which results in a fundamental leap in computing. In other words, from my limited understanding, a molecule has been discovered that enhances the capability of these chips to hold massive amounts of cubits of information. What might have taken a computer (using AI) several cubits to process and solve a problem, will now be able to be accomplished with millions of cubits in a very short period of time. In other words, this rate is way past the computation of the world's best supercomputer! So what has just been invented, and how will it affect us, as human beings? 

Please do your own research on this phenomenon! I really can't wrap my head around it! All I know is that this invention revolves around this new molecule, which is actually a new state of matter (other than a solid, liquid, or gas) that when applied to this chip, allows for a million cubits of quantum computing. That means that AI computers will be able to solve problems faster and more efficiently, at rates beyond human computation. Imagine the current state of AI on steroids!

And where does that lead us to? In my mind, right back to Ray Kurzweil and his predictions for 2029. As computers get faster and their ability to gain information and solve problems outpaces human capabilities, you very well might ask a computer, "How do we cure cancer"? And it's response could conceivably be, "Why cure cancer? I'll just redesign the human body [by merging it with machines], so it never gets cancer"! Can you see that AI is going to move at exponential speeds? Can you see that what might take our human brains 50 or 60 years to solve problems in the areas of health, military defense strategies, or energy crises, could be done in 5 or 10 minutes with this chip? AI employing this chip will grow in knowledge and experience faster than we can imagine, and that kind of capability is a temptation to mankind.

Instead of using it to grow our own intelligence, wisdom and understanding, it will be easier to let AI do it; and faster. So not only will we become lazy, but we will begin depending on it, and bingeing on it, and it will become part of who we are. What will then be the purpose of being a human being? Consider this: When we get to that merging point, are we looking at Mark of the Beast? Microsoft predicts that this technology will be in full operation by 2030. That's only 5 years from now, and only one year beyond Ray Kurzweil's prediction of 2029 for hybrid human/computer robots!

This is just a cursory examination of the state of AI interaction with humans. I am no expert, but even I can see the danger signs! As humans, we are created in the image of God Almighty! Computers, including AI, have been created by man, but without the God component that makes us accountable to our Creator. Therefore, we have no guarantee that the technological advances of AI into the quantum realm will not backfire on the human race.    

In conclusion, all this brings me back to "The Terminator" movies. They may seem out-of-date and corny now, but their message is not. We must not dismiss the warning signs that this iconic franchise portrays clearly and sharply. As one of the characters says, "This is the world now. Logged on, plugged in, all the time". It's true! And we, humanity, will make a takeover by machines easier if we don't evaluate what we're doing and what we're becoming. And I'll leave you with a quote from John Connor, the protagonist and hero of the movie: "The future has not been written. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves." I hope and pray that we take a step back, re-evaluate where we're going and our purpose on earth, and don't turn mankind's future over to these false gods.

Psalm 135:118     Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them.

 

 

  

Beware Of False Signs & Wonders of This Age: They Are a Web of Deception!

I want to start off by saying that I acknowledge the ways in which technology has helped mankind. Our society has benefitted from its many innovations. But I have also written before about my inherent suspicion of technology as a tool of deception from the Enemy. Those of all ages, who are intrigued by it, will call me old-fashioned and out-of-step with the future implications. But, on the contrary, it is exactly those implications for the future that have set off warning bells in my spirit. 

For more than ten years, I have been following and studying the writings and philosophies of futurists and technology engineers who were bold in their prognostications of how technology would "advance humankind", even to the point of living forever by uploading our brains to the "cloud", and replacing our worn-out body parts. After all, they clearly implied, it won't be necessary to cling to God to have eternal life. 

In 2013, I wrote a post, citing that Ray Kurzweil -- an acclaimed inventor, futurist, and [then] Director of Engineering at Google -- had published an article on CNN.com in which he predicted 5 ways our lives would be dramatically affected in the very near future. Let's see how far down that road we've come in the last ten years. He predicted that ... 

1.  By the early 2020s, we will have the means to program our biology away from disease and aging.  According to Mr. Kurzweil, in 2013, scientists already had "the genome code" and could actually reprogram our body's processes, much like a computer is re-programmed. Here is a direct quote from him: RNA interference, for example, can turn genes off that promote disease and aging. New forms of gene therapy, especially in vitro models that do not trigger the immune system, have the ability to add new genes. 

But as we saw in 2020, with the worldwide pandemic, RNA interference can have the opposite effects on genes, too, resulting in promotion of diseases and death. So, I ask... was this science used for the betterment of mankind? Was it true "Signs and Wonders", or was it "Deception"?

2.  By 2030, solar energy will be able to meet all our needs, revolutionizing the production of food and water.  In 2013, Kurzweil predicted hydroponic production of fruits and vegetables -- so far, so good. But he also predicted "in vitro cloning of muscle tissue for meat".  We saw that rolled out as McDonald's "Impossible Burger", or fake meat. But here is the quote that set my spirit on edge:  "We are also headed towards another agriculture revolution, from horizontal agriculture to vertical agriculture, where we grow very high quality food in Artificial Intelligence controlled buildings [my emphasis, not his]. That's when my warning bells started going off. Our food supply will be controlled by machines?

3.  By the early 2020s we will print out a significant fraction of the products we use including clothing as well as replacement organs. I could see that trend emerging; we were already consuming digital versions of books, movies, and music. In the ten years since, that trend has only grown. But it was his pride in which he announced the following, that once again, had me questioning, "Signs and Wonders" or "Deception"? He said, "We can already experimentally print out organs by printing a biodegradable scaffolding and then populating it with a patient's own stem cells, all with a 3D printer." After all, who needs a Creator God, right?

4.  Within five years, search engines will be based on an understanding of natural language.  Well, we've reached that milestone, and gone beyond. We have surpassed IBM's "Watson" who got its knowledge by reading Wikipedia and other encyclopedias, a total of 200 million pages of natural language documents, and then combining all that knowledge to come up with a system that could engage a person in dialogue to clarify questions and discuss answers that were ambiguous or complex.

Ten years later, we are increasingly encountering, LLMs (Large Language Models), a type of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that uses deep learning techniques and massively large data sets to understand, summarize, generate and predict new content. In other words, computers are increasingly able to think like humans, and the concern is that they will soon be able to out-think us, as their learning capacity grows.  

5.  By the early 2020s we will be routinely working and playing with each other in full immersion visual-auditory virtual environments. By the 2030s, we will add the tactile sense to full immersion virtual reality. Much like the telephone is virtual reality, in the auditory sense, in that you can meet with someone as if you are together, Kurzweil predicted that we will soon be able to add visual, tactile and what he called "full immersion" virtual reality to our existence. 

 There's only one small hitch ... the full package will require tapping directly into the nervous system.  But it's no big deal, he insists.  "We'll be able to do that in the 2030s with nanobots traveling noninvasively into the brain through the capillaries and augmenting the signals coming from our real senses." 

So, can you see that as far back as ten years ago, the Enemy was sowing seeds of deception into our collective desire to be "plugged in"? But have the advancements in technology and Artificial Intelligence resulted in what the Bible predicts will be false Signs and Wonders for our Age? Consider this statement by Gabe Lyons, an alumnus of Liberty University, and a Christian media expert, who isn't afraid to warn about the coming threats to our world, while encouraging and equipping Christians to strengthen our own culture of faith  ... "I believe Christians ought to be the most thoughtful, the most informed, and the most educated on every single question that our culture is asking,” Lyons said. “We have a responsibility to do that because the Scriptures and the Church (body of Christ) throughout history have always had the best answers to what human beings face … to the questions [this] generation is asking.” 

He warns that the goal of artificial intelligence is to form a singular language so that nothing becomes impossible for man. He referenced Genesis 11, explaining that humans have a desire to lift themselves up rather than submit to God — a temptation [and I submit, a deception] as old as time. “What is the thing that artificial intelligence wants from you?", he asks … "it wants you to stop thinking".

I agree! It is time that we, as Christians, begin seeing the challenge being presented to us. Do we really need this growing dependence on AI and machines? Critical thinking is an important component of our humanity, and we've been given that by our Creator! Do we really need gene editing? Or a neural link in our brain? Or nanobots that supplement and magnify our natural senses and body functions? Do we really need to perfect what God designed, which is in His image? We must ask ourselves if we need to be "enhanced" ... or do we trust God's divine design? 

Unfortunately, what I see happening is that we are being trained to abandon our own critical thinking, and rely more and more on machines. When we do that, we are stepping away from God. We must not be fooled or deceive ourselves! All the benefits of man's "artificial enhancement" are false Signs and Wonders. They will result in future generations that Gabe Lyons says "won't see a God, or believe in Him, and will start to think they're their own god". 

That is why it is essential that we Christians each develop -- through our spirits and critical thinking [from God] -- our own worldview of who we are, why we matter, and why we're here. It must all come through the lens of being divinely created, and through the truth of Christ's redemptive act on the Cross for us.  And here's the critical point ... we must be able to defend it, if we are going to occupy this earth until Christ returns. We must defend the truth of our divinely saved humanity, because I promise you this ... AI, in all its accumulated knowledge, will try to challenge that truth! But remember Scripture, which says Be not deceived. God will not be mocked.

#falsesignsandwonders #satansdeception #mandanmachine #dangersofartificialintelligence #satanslies #biblicalworldview #raykurzweil #criticalthinking #God'sdivinecreationofman #technologyasthedevil'stool #Godwillnotbemocked #benotdeceived

Isaiah 44: 9, 20:    All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame... a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

   

    

 

Will Our Technology Destroy Us?

     There is no doubt that we live in an advanced technological world.  Everyone is "wired", and our "progress" finds us all becoming slaves to machinery and equipment supposedly developed to improve our lives.  I recently read an interesting article on Truthstream Media, in which the author, Daniel Taylor, pointed out that both C.S. Lewis, the lay theologian and Christian apologist, and George Orwell, the noted author and skeptical Christian, both came to the same conclusion:  that sooner or later, the human race would pay for its obsession with power and self-glorification.
     They both lived just prior to the explosion of the "computer age", yet their words are incredibly prophetic:
•  “Dreams of the far future destiny of man were dragging up, from its shallow and unquiet grave, the old dream of man as god…” – C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength, 1945.
•  “All superfluous life is to be wiped out, all natural forces tamed, the common people are to be used as slaves and vivisection subjects by the ruling caste of scientists, who even see their way to conferring immortal life upon themselves. Man, in short, is to storm the heavens and overthrow the gods, or even to become a god himself ... we are within sight of the time when such dreams will be realizable.” -- George Orwell, The Scientists Take Over, 1945.

      Both men have accurately portrayed the lust for ever-more interactive relationships between man and machine.  And I think they correctly foresaw that it was all about power and making man "little g" gods.  But this is nothing new ... it is the same rebellion and self-glorification that occurred at the Tower of Babel and throughout all the ages.  But the difference now is that scientists are not so much interested in "storming heaven" to overthrow God; they are hell-bent on developing ways that simply don't acknowledge He even exists.  It's all about making God irrelevant, and finding new ways of controlling us.
     That's what the transhumanist movement is all about... incorporating technology with the human body to effectively live forever; to control human memory, human sensitivity and vulnerability; and to limit human intelligence.  The end result will be what British historian E.P. Thompson called "Exterminism".  In his own words, Thompson explained it this way:  "Exterminism designates those characteristics of a society which thrust it in the direction whose outcome must be the extermination of millions...".
     Now, I can guarantee you that all those who are addicted to their technology systems will call me old-fashioned and out-of-step.  They are lining up to receive the next innovation that will enslave them.  But when scientists are proclaiming victory by replacing human organs with artificial ones; wanting to inject nanobots into my blood stream; and proposing that I store my brain in "the Cloud", then I don't think it's too preposterous to consider that computerized robots may one day declare us a threat or unnecessary!
     And believe me, they are selling the lie in every commercial, every movie, in our music, and every form of entertainment.  We are being sold the concept of "radical human evolution, aided by technology."  Some scientists and futurists go so far as conceiving a new species when all this revolutionary technology is applied to the human race.
     In his article, Taylor writes, "Technologies for the improvement of human performance are at the center of transhumanist thought. Most of these technologies begin with military applications, and only after a period of use by the military or black operations are they unveiled to the general public. In 2008 the JASON group, the Pentagon’s top scientific advisers, warned that the U.S. military could face enemies with technologically enhanced abilities. These capabilities include brain-machine interfaces and pharmaceutical drugs that enhance cognitive abilities."
     Is this the kind of world you want to live in?  Me neither, but the following quote is enough to have me praying, "Come Lord, Jesus!"  Taylor expresses this ominous opinion: "Some scientists are predicting that getting chip implants will become mandatory due to overwhelming societal pressure. Cybernetics scientist Dr Mark Gasson told the Sydney Morning Herald that, 'It’s not possible to interact in society today in any meaningful way, without having a mobile phone. I think human implants will go along a similar route. It will be such a disadvantage not to have the implant that it will essentially not be optional.' "
     In the end, each of us may be confronted by the power-hungry and spiritually-bereft who are determined to rob us of our innate "God-ness".   For those of us who have the Spirit of God within us, nothing can separate us from the hand of our Lord.  But I fear for those who will embrace such Godless "progress"....
   
John 10:29     "My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them from my Father’s hand."
   

Your Life Will Soon Look Like A Science Fiction Novel!

     I have introduced you to Ray Kurzweil in past posts, and you will remember him as an acclaimed inventor, futurist, and current Director of Engineering at Google.  (Just that title sends shivers down my spine for all its implications!)  Anyway, Mr. Kurzweil has recently published an article on CNN.com in which he predicts 5 ways our lives will be dramatically effected in the very near future.  Let's take a look at his scary predictions:

1.   By the early 2020s, we will have the means to program our biology away from disease and aging.  According to Kurzweil, medicine will no longer be a hit-or-miss affair, with newly invented drugs that cure you, yet have a range of side-effects that are sometime worse than the disease.  It seems that scientists now have "the genome code" (there's the first scary proposition!) and can actually reprogram our body's processes, much like a computer is re-programmed.
     This is a direct quote from the man that Forbes Magazine calls "the ultimate thinking machine": RNA interference, for example, can turn genes off that promote disease and aging. New forms of gene therapy, especially in vitro models that do not trigger the immune system, have the ability to add new genes.
     OK, does anybody else think this sounds creepy?  And isn't this, in essence, playing God?  Our Maker gave us our immune system (that Kurzweil is trying to hinder) for a specific reason... to fight off foreign agents trying to alter His creation! Turning genes off?  Adding new genes?  And just what kind of "therapy" are they planning to do to our genes?  And the ultimate question: Who do these mad scientists think they are?  Unfortunately, I don't think they will be satisfied with "playing" God.
     And here is his frightening conjecture:  Technology is already here to reprogram "the software" of human biology, and he proclaims that Clinical applications are now at the cutting edge and will be routine in the early 2020s.
2.  By 2030, solar energy will be able to meet all our needs, revolutionizing the production of food and water.  Some of Kurzweil's forecasts for this area of science include converting the vast amount of dirty and salinated water we have on the planet to usable water, along with hydroponic plants for fruits and vegetables, and in vitro cloning of muscle tissue for meat.  You read that correctly -- he is talking about producing meat without animals, thereby ending what he calls "animal suffering."
     But the most disturbing element of these technological advances is this statement by Mr. Kurzweil:  "We are also headed towards another agriculture revolution, from horizontal agriculture to vertical agriculture, where we grow very high quality food in Artificial Intelligence controlled buildings [my emphasis, not his].
3.  By the early 2020s we will print out a significant fraction of the products we use including clothing as well as replacement organs.  Kurzweil refers to the early 2020s as "the golden era" of 3D printing.  He predicts that you will have a choice of "many thousands of cool clothing designs" that are an open source and that can be printed out for pennies a pound.  It's not that the fashion industry will disappear. It will simply be "transformed"; much like other industries that have already been morphed from physical products to digital ones, such as books, movies and music.  OK, I can buy that.  But Kurzweil can never resist going for the shock value.  He almost gleefully reports the following:  "We can already experimentally print out organs by printing a biodegradable scaffolding and then populating it with a patient's own stem cells, all with a 3D printer."  Tell me that's not macabre!
4.  Within five years, search engines will be based on an understanding of natural language.  What that means is that computers will attempt to think and reason like humans, thereby considering themselves human ... or better.  If you need a concrete example, Kurzweil provides one.  He asks us to consider IBM's "Watson", an artificially intelligent computer system capable of answering questions posed in natural language.  Did you know that Watson got a higher score on the TV game show Jeopardy than the best two human players combined?
     Could you have answered this question correctly, in the rhyme category: "A long tiresome speech delivered by a frothy pie topping?"  Well, Watson did.  It correctly responded "What is a meringue harangue."
     How did Watson do it?  Watson got its knowledge by reading Wikipedia and several other encyclopedias, a total of 200 million pages of natural language documents, and then combining all that knowledge to come up with the correct answer.  But here is the scary part ... it does not read a page as well as you or I.  It might read one page and conclude that there is a 56% chance that Barack Obama is President of the United States.  You could read that same page, and if you didn't happen to know that ahead of time, conclude that there is a 98% chance.  So you did a better job than Watson at reading that page. But Watson makes up for this relatively weak reading by reading more pages, a lot more, and it can combine its inferences across everything it has read and conclude that there is a 99.9% chance that Obama is president.
     But what happens when Watson has a glitch in his system?  What's to keep it from becoming HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey?  Kurzweil says he is part of a group of inventors that are creating a system that will engage you in dialogue to clarify questions and discuss answers that are ambiguous or complex.  I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to trust any system that wants me to "clarify" matters with a computer!

5.  By the early 2020s we will be routinely working and playing with each other in full immersion visual-auditory virtual environments. By the 2030s, we will add the tactile sense to full immersion virtual reality.  Much like the telephone is virtual reality, in the auditory sense, in that you can meet with someone as if you are together, Kurzweil predicts that we will soon be able to add visual, tactile and what he calls "full immersion" virtual reality to our existence.  There's only one small hitch ... the full package will require tapping directly into the nervous system.  But it's no big deal, he insists.  "We'll be able to do that in the 2030s with nanobots traveling noninvasively into the brain through the capillaries and augmenting the signals coming from our real senses."
     Oh, yeah, sign me up!  How about you?  Are you ready for this new future?  Nanobots in your brain?  Printed organs?  Computers that will think they know better than you?  Fake meat?  How far away can Jesus be when this is on our radar?  The only full immersion, visual-auditory-tactile environment I'm interested in is the one that finds me in the presence of my Lord and Savior!  May that day come before I have to endure this nightmare.

Isaiah 1:2     Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: "Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me."

Are We Building The Tower of Babel Again?

     At first glance, the headlines seem outlandish; even imaginary or phony:  Harvard Professor Seeks Mother for Cloned Cave Baby .... Human Intelligence Will Be Overtaken By Technological Evolution.  You might think you were reading something out of the latest sci-fi Magazine of the Month.  Why would we want to even pay attention to these bizarre notions?
     Follow along with my thought process and see if it doesn't make some modicum of sense.  As you know, the Bible is my source for Truth.  I'm one of those who believes that it still has relevance in today's world; in fact, if you dig deep enough you will find parallels to many of our modern situations.

     First, let's look at what the crazy headlines above are really telling us.  According to The Daily Mail, Professor George Church of Harvard Medical School believes he can reconstruct Neanderthal DNA and resurrect the species which became extinct 33,000 years ago.  The obvious comparisons to Jurassic Park notwithstanding, this is really creepy because in order to complete his experiment, Professor Church needs to artificially create Neanderthal DNA based on genetic code found in fossil remains. He would then put this DNA into stem cells.   And here's the creepy part .... these would be injected into cells from a human embryo in the early stages of life, which would steer the development of the hybrid embryo along Neanderthal lines, rather than human ones.  The ‘neo-Neanderthal’ embryo would then need to be implanted in the womb of a surrogate mother.   Does anyone else think that this is messing with God's creation?
     Next, let's take a look at the Human Intelligence vs. Technological Advancements scenario.  Inventor and Futurist Ray Kurzweil has come up with a theory he calls "The Singularity".  What this means is that he predicts -- in the very near future -- that there will be a profound and disruptive transformation in human capability.  Translated into language we can all understand, he predicts that we are very close to creating a nonbiological (read "artificial") intelligence that will be one billion times more powerful than all human intelligence today.  Mr. Kurzweil was recently interviewed for a Time Magazine article, and the writer, Lew Grossman, summed up the Futurist's theory in this manner:  Once hyper-intelligent artificial intelligences arise, armed with advanced nanotechnology, they’ll really be able to wrestle with the vastly complex, systemic problems associated with aging in humans. Alternatively, by then we’ll be able to transfer our minds to sturdier vessels such as computers and robots. He and many other Singularitarians take seriously the proposition that many people who are alive today will wind up being functionally immortal.

     You read that correctly!  Technology is advancing so rapidly, that one day, robots will not only interpret our thoughts for us, but become part of us, thereby securing our immortality!  In addition, Kurzweil feels confident in his theory to make the following predictions:  (See this article on The Blaze for in-depth reporting on Singularity).

•  Our brains will extend to the cloud, which will allow us to learn new things at any age.
•  We will be able to selectively erase pieces of our memory.
•  We’ll be in augmented reality at all times.
•  By 2029, machines will be able to match the intelligence of humans, and they’ll be able to make us laugh and cry.
•  Around the 2030s, tiny “nanobots” able to repair and preserve our organs will keep us healthier and smarter.
•  3D printing will be even more common than it is today, with public 3D printing stations for people to print out clothes, toys, and anything else.
•  Within 25 years, computers will be the size of a blood cell and we’ll be able to connect it to the brain without the need for surgery.
•  Society will reach a state of “technological singularity” in 2045 where technology enables superhuman machine intelligences to emerge and people and machines become deeply integrated.
     I could write volumes on all that just these two headlines portend.  But I want you to consider that in one way, these events are not new.  We've been here before in the history of man.  Let me point you to Genesis 10:8-9:  Cush was the father of Nimrod, who became a mighty warrior on the earth.  He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.”

     If you are familiar with the story of Nimrod, you know that he is largely held responsible for being the instigator behind the Tower of Babel.   Now you might think that Nimrod is a good guy, based on these couple of verses.  But every commentary I have ever read states that the Greek to English translation of this Scripture is weak.  You have to go to the Jerusalem Targum (a Hebrew translation into the Aramaic language, which was used in Christ’s day), to grasp the full appreciation of these verses.  The Targum states, “He [Nimrod] was powerful in hunting and wickedness before the LORD, for he was a hunter of the sons of men, and he said unto them, ‘Depart from the judgment of the Lord, and adhere to the judgment of Nimrod!’ therefore it is said: ‘As Nimrod [is] the strong one, strong in hunting, and in wickedness before the Lord.’”
     The word “before” in verse 9 actually should be translated “in defiance of.” Even his name—Nimrod—means “one who rebels” or “let us rebel.” Nimrod was a Rebel!  He also was a hunter, “a mighty one in the earth,” a hero of the people. With his skills of hunting and war, he protected the people against wild animals, thus causing people to turn to him for protection instead of God.
     And we all know the rest of the story.  The ancient historian Josephus says this about Nimrod:  Now it was Nimrod who excited them to such an affront and contempt of God.... He persuaded them not to ascribe anything to God, as if it were through His means they were happy, but to believe that it was their own courage which procured that happiness.... He also said he would be revenged on God, if he should have a mind to drown the world again; for that he would build a tower too high for the waters to be able to reach! 
     And what did God do?  Genesis 11:6-8 tell us,  The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.  Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.  
     It seems to me that when man begins to think that he is bigger than God, or smarter than God, then he begins to think he can BE God.  God knew that Nimrod planned to replace Him among the people on the earth, so He confounded their plans and the Tower of Babel was destroyed.  Do you see the similarities with our modern-day hypotheses?   Monkeying with DNA .... messing with the human mind and trying to create immortal beings?  It looks to me like the created are trying to replace the Creator!   Furthermore, it appears as though we are getting dangerously close to assuming the arrogance of Nimrod; and we saw how that turned out for him, don't we?
     The arrogance of it all!  It astounds me that man, who was created in the image of God, would have the audacity to think they could improve on His work.  What God has created is sovereign and supreme!  But if these men knew who God was, they would not dare to challenge Him!  I shudder to think how He will destroy this rebellion against His authority.

Romans 1:20-21      " For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened."