Singularity vs. the Single Will

A Warning on AI

The Vatican recently published an important document with the Pope’s approval called Antiqua et Nova (“Ancient and New”) on the ethical question of artificial intelligence. While technology itself can be used for either good or bad, “techno-scientific activity is not neutral in character but is a human endeavor that engages the humanistic and cultural dimensions of human creativity.”^[6]n. 36 Thus, in a stark warning, the document continues:

…as society drifts away from a connection with the transcendent, some are tempted to turn to AI in search of meaning or fulfillment — longings that can only be truly satisfied in communion with God. However, the presumption of substituting God for an artifact of human making is idolatry, a practice Scripture explicitly warns against (e.g., Ex. 20:4; 32:1-5; 34:17). Moreover, AI may prove even more seductive than traditional idols for, unlike idols that “have mouths but do not speak; eyes, but do not see; ears, but do not hear” (Ps. 115:5-6), AI can “speak,” or at least gives the illusion of doing so (cf. Rev. 13:15). —nos. 104-105

The document references Revelation 13:15, where a false prophet…

…was then permitted to breathe life into the beast’s image, so that the beast’s image could speak and could have anyone who did not worship it put to death. (Revelation 13:15)

In other words, humanity would be forced to comply with the “word” spoken by the beast — those who do not are “put to death.” While I am not treating my dream above like dogma, this is what I “saw” taking place: people were becoming one with the will of the Beast, whose “intelligence” and dominance was seemingly irresistible.

They worshiped the dragon because it gave its authority to the beast; they also worshiped the beast and said, “Who can compare with the beast or who can fight against it?” (Revelation 13:4)

It was Pope Benedict who ultimately made this passage relevant to our times. While still a Cardinal, he warned that…

…our age has seen the birth of totalitarian systems and forms of tyranny which would not have been possible in the time before the technological leap forward. —Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation, n. 14; vatican.va

Then, shortly before his passing, the late Pope said:

We see how the power of the Antichrist is expanding, and we can only pray that the Lord will give us strong shepherds who will defend His Church in this hour of need from the power of evil. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, The American Conservative, January 10th, 2023

The Single Will

We are in the final stages of an ancient cosmic battle, what St. John Paul II called “the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel and the anti-Gospel, of Christ versus the anti-Christ…”^[7]Cardinal Karol Wojtyla (JOHN PAUL II ), at the Eucharistic Congress, Philadelphia, PA; August 13, 1976; cf. Catholic Online (quote confirmed by Deacon Keith Fournier who was in attendance) It is not just an attempt by the forces of darkness to extinguish the light of faith. It is the Clash of Two Kingdoms for dominance — the kingdom of the “beast” vs. the Kingdom of Christ… a Kingdom we have been praying to come now for 2000 years in the “Our Father.”^[8]“My very prayer to the heavenly Father, ‘May it come, may your kingdom come and your Will be done on earth as it is in heaven,’ meant that with My coming to earth the Kingdom of My Will was not established among creatures, otherwise I would have said, ‘My Father, may Our kingdom that I have already established on earth be confirmed, and let Our Will dominate and reign.’ Instead I said, ‘May it come.’ This means that it must come and souls must await it with the same certainty with which they awaited the future Redeemer. For My Divine Will is bound and committed to the words of the ‘Our Father.’” —Jesus to Luisa, The Gift of Living in the Divine Will in the Writings of Luisa Piccarreta (Kindle Location 1551) Thus, one could say it is the kingdom of the beast’s will vs. the Kingdom of the Divine Will. 

If the Antichrist seeks to dominate by the “sole thought”, it is only because it is a counterfeit of the Divine Will, the “single will” that Jesus desires to resurrect in His Bride:

To live in My Will is to reign in it and with it, while to do My Will is to be submitted to My orders. The first state is to possess; the second is to receive dispositions and execute commands. To live in My Will is to make My Will one’s own, as one’s own property, and for them to administer it as they intend; to do My Will is to regard the Will of God as My Will, and not [also] as one’s own property that they are able to administer as they intend. To live in My Will is to live with one single Will […] And since My Will is all holy, all pure and all peaceful, and because it is one single Will that reigns [in the soul], no contrasts exist [between us]… On the other hand, to do My Will is to live with two wills in such a way that, when I give orders to follow My Will, the soul feels the weight of its own will which causes contrasts. And even though the soul faithfully carries out My Will’s orders, it feels the weight of its rebellious human nature, of its passions and inclinations. How many saints, although they may have reached the heights of perfection, felt their own will waging war on them, keeping them oppressed? Whence many were forced to cry out: “Who will free me from this body of death?”, that is, “from this will of mine, that wants to give death to the good I want to do?” (cf. Rom 7:24) —Jesus to Luisa, The Gift of Living in the Divine Will in the Writings of Luisa Piccarreta, 4.1.2.1.4, (Kindle Locations 1722-1738)

Antiqua et Nova gives a crucial and beautiful explanation how the term “artificial intelligence” is misleading. While AI can mimic the “artifacts” and products of human intelligence, it can never perceive on a level of intuition, wisdom, and ultimately love, since only man is made “in the image of God.”

“…the very use of the word ‘intelligence’” in connection with AI “can prove misleading” and risks overlooking what is most precious in the human person. In light of this, AI should not be seen as an artificial form of human intelligence but as a product of it. —n. 35

Thus, it is consistent with human intelligence and reason to use technology for the “common good,” it says. And the trajectory of that good is for the Kingdom of Christ to reign “on earth as it is in heaven.”

My descent upon earth, taking on human flesh, was precisely this — to lift up humanity again and give to my Divine Will the rights to reign in this humanity, because by reigning in my Humanity, the rights of both sides, human and divine, were placed in force again. —Jesus to Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, Feb. 24th, 1933

On Remaining Faithful

In closing, how do we not get swept away in what the World Economic Forum (WEF) calls “The Fourth Industrial Revolution”?

The future is already here. The future has begun. Why is this Fourth Industrial Revolution so crucial? It’s coming like a tsunami. When we look at all the breakthroughs, at all the possibilities, opportunities which we have in the coming years, it will be overwhelming to see how fast the change will happen, in an exponential speed. —Prof. Klaus Schwab, founder WEF at the World Government Summit, 2016; youtube.com

The problem, already, is that the WEF, which is working closely with global leaders, does not view this revolution through the same lens as the Church. On the one hand, Pope Francis warned that:

AI should be used only as a tool to complement human intelligence rather than replace its richness. —Meeting with the Students of the Barbarigo College of Padua in the 100th Year of its Foundation (23 March 2019): L’Osservatore Romano, 24 March 2019, 8. Cf. Id., Address to Rectors, Professors, Students and Staff of the Roman Pontifical Universities and Institutions (25 February 2023); cf. Antiqua et Nova, n. 112 

But Schwab and WEF advisor, Yuval Noah Harari, see humans as becoming the tool itself:

Homo sapiens as we know them will probably disappear within a century or so, not destroyed by killer robots or things like that, but changed and upgraded with biotechnology and artificial intelligence into something else, into something different. —Yuval Noah Harari, The Guardian, March 19, 2017

In fact, Harari claims that we’ve reached the point that “Humans are now hackable animals” and that “the whole idea that humans have this soul or spirit and they have free will… that’s over.”^[9]youtube.com In an interview with CNN, he stated: “Authority will gradually shift from us to these corporate or government algorithms that will increasingly decide almost everything about our life.”^[10]CNN.com, 2:58

Yes, this is what I perceived in that dream: “Singularity vs. the Single Will”.

How do we not succumb to AI, what Andrew Ng calls “the new electricity”?^[11]cf. 2045.com While the Vatican’s guidance on AI has already been left in the dust from the viewpoint of globalists, as Christians we need to keep its social teaching before us. AI can be used as a tool, but never as a digital “fortune teller.” It may help us discover knowledge, but should not replace critical thinking. It can help us understand better the world around us, but must never be allowed to define our existence, undermine our dignity, or replace our relationship to God or one another. 

Since a “person’s perfection is measured not by the information or knowledge they possess, but by the depth of their charity,” how we incorporate AI “to include the least of our brothers and sisters, the vulnerable, and those most in need, will be the true measure of our humanity.” —Antiqua et Nova, n. 116

That “perfection” will be expressed most perfectly, one could say, when we “live in the Divine Will” as Heaven intends for the Bride of Christ before the end of time.

This will be the basis, the substance, the beautiful characteristic of the Kingdom of My Divine Fiat: one the Will, one the love, one the happiness, one the glory between Creator and creature. —Jesus to Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, August 17, 1927, Vol. 22

Clearly, AI is now a major component of the decisive battle of our times. For all its utopian promises, AI is already forming a false and distorted image of man, which will find its penultimate expression in the Antichrist himself:^[12]nb. “…that Antichrist is one individual man, not a power—not a mere ethical spirit, or a political system, not a dynasty, or succession of rulers—was the universal tradition of the early Church.” —St. John Henry Newman, “The Times of Antichrist”, Lecture 1

…who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god and object of worship, so as to seat himself in the temple of God, claiming that he is a god. —2 Thessalonians 2:4 

But what is Babel? It is the description of a kingdom in which people have concentrated so much power they think they no longer need depend on a God who is far away. They believe they are so powerful they can build their own way to heaven in order to open the gates and put themselves in God’s place. But it’s precisely at this moment that something strange and unusual happens. While they are working to build the tower, they suddenly realise they are working against one another. While trying to be like God, they run the risk of not even being human – because they’ve lost an essential element of being human: the ability to agree, to understand one another and to work together… Progress and science have given us the power to dominate the forces of nature, to manipulate the elements, to reproduce living things, almost to the point of manufacturing humans themselves. In this situation, praying to God appears outmoded, pointless, because we can build and create whatever we want. We don’t realise we are reliving the same experience as Babel.  —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Pentecost Homily, May 27th, 2012

Related Reading

The Final Revolution

The Single Will

The Gift

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