In folly ripe. In reason rotten. Putting machine theology to rest

Abstract

Computation has changed the world more than any previous expressions of knowledge. In its particular algorithmic embodiment, it offers a perspective, within which the digital computer (one of many possible) exercises a role reminiscent of theology. Since it is closed to meaning, algorithmic digital computation can at most mimic the creative aspects of life. AI, in the perspective of time, proved to be less an acronym for artificial intelligence and more of automating tasks associated with intelligence. The entire development led to the hypostatized role of the machine: outputting nothing else but reality, including that of the humanity that made the machine happen. The convergence machine called deep learning is only the latest form through which the deterministic theology of the machine claims more than what extremely effective data processing actually is. A new understanding of complexity, as well as the need to distinguish between the reactive nature of the artificial and the anticipatory nature of the living are suggested as practical responses to the challenges posed by machine theology.