Let There Be Light

God:  A deity or supreme being; a supernatural, typically immortal, being with superior powers, to which personhood is attributed.  E.G, Gawd!

Spiritual:  Of or pertaining to the spirit or the soul.

Soul:  The spirit or essence of a person usually thought to consist of one's thoughts and personality.  Often believed to live on after the person's death. (spooky.) 

This is a rabbit hole of ineffable dimensions and depth.  A most enjoyable rabbit hole.

From a treatise I've been studying that is discussing the connection between god, spirituality, and tech-generated Artificial Intelligence:

"Spirituality, whether pursued via faithfulness, tradition or sheer exploration, is a way of connecting with something larger than one's self."  I gotta tell ya . . . that is one of the best descriptions of spirituality I've ever heard.

"At the end of the day, A.I. is just a lot of math.  It's a lot, a lot of math.  It is intelligence by brute force, and yet it is spoken of as if it were semi-divine."  Tech worker.  It's interesting to think about computer algorithms, learning at the speed of electricity, watching you type on your computer, learning, learning, remembering everything, everything, then taking that information and delivering content back to you to influence how you behave.  Is that god-like?  Is it smarter than you?  Or are you merely being overwhelmed by the brute force of electronic computing power?  In any case something more powerful than you is directing how you behave and how you react to things.  That's pretty powerful.

Issac Asimov and an adapted science fiction story:  "A group of scientists create an A.I. system and ask it, 'Is there a god?'  The A.I. spits out an answer: 'Insufficient computing power to determine an answer.'  They add more computing power and ask again, 'Is there a god?'  They get the same answer.  Then they redouble their efforts and spend years and years improving the A.I.'s capacity.  Then they ask again,"Is there a god?'  The A.I. responds, 'There is now.' "

"One of the fundamental functions of A.I. is to create groups and to create categories, and then to do things with those categories.  Traditionally, religions have worked the same way.  You're either in the group or you're out of the group.  You are either saved or damned."  So is your computer your god?  Is it telling you how to think?  Are you trying to please your computer?  You're telling me you have trouble with the concepts of powerlessness and a power greater than yourself while you blithely stare at your computer screen?  Please.  Can you even hear yourself talking?

In the Bible the first act of God was to create light.  "Let there be light."  God did this.  God created this light.  Today, I can lounge in my barcalounger and tell Siri or Alexa to turn on the light and the light is turned on.  With my voice.  Am I god?  Am I God?  All was in darkness and then there was light.

I might be god.  I don't think I'm the only god but I may be one of them.