ON TRANSHUMANISM - Part 26

 CRISPR AND AI

 The doctor rolled his eyes when I mentioned CRISPR. He either had not heard of it or was surprised that I knew about it.

CRISPR is an acronym for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats. That sounds benign, but is it really? 

Palindromic is simply the same repeat forward and backward. So far, so good.

Cas9 enzymes are protein sequences that are used to edit genes in any organism, not necessarily just bacteria and archaea. Together CRISPR-Cas9 can be used for editing the human genome by cutting out one sequence and splicing in another sequence in its place.  (Roll your eyes now! That sounds like science fiction, but it is not.)

Ostensibly, CRISPR-Cas9 was developed for the good of mankind. One source, calling it “The Genesis Engine,” instructing readers to “buckle up” because the easy DNA editing CRISPR enables will change the world” (Harper 2015).

Note that CRISPR was known previously to COVID19 and merely awaited a “serious crisis” such as a pandemic. The pandemic changed the world and changed the attitude of the people within it. It proved that people would obey at any cost to do things sane people would never do… such as stand in line to take a series of injections which had not been sufficiently proven.

The messenger-RNA in the jabs for COVID was a sort of test run; to see if people would subject themselves to experimentation even in a very Mengelian fashion. [1] Biden was disappointed because many astute people failed to comply with his mandates and the President showed the same anger as my primary-care physician.

Eugenics is basically for the “good” of the genetics of organisms, and especially for human organisms.

The problem with eugenics is good for whom?

Mengele presented eugenics as good for the infirm but as it turned out; it was for the good of the regime. That meant that many human organisms had to die for the good of the people. Among those were millions of Jews who would die for the common good. They lined up at train stations as mandated just to be taken to slaughterhouses like swine.

Because of the times, genes could not be edited so the logical thing to do was for Nazis to edit out unwanted genetics and splice in nothing.

Jewish people were treated as if beasts or even sub-human parasites! When they died, it was as much as treating a plague. They were gassed much like spiders and mosquitos, all for the good of the Reich.

So be careful what “good” means! Dysgenics is “the study of the accumulation and perpetuation of defective genes and traits in a population, race, or species” (Merriam-Webster Dict. 1828-2022).

Saying they were “studying eugenics,” Nazis were performing dysgenics. It was more than studying genetically inferiors but eliminating them! Not that Jews and the infirm were lesser people, but by Nazi metrics, they were considered inferiors, notwithstanding that the Jewish population was the brightest and most successful!

CRISPR-Cas9 is said to be good: 

The ability to rewrite the genetic code for life is a powerful one.

In the past few years, scientists have revolutionized our ability to do so with the discovery and refinement of a molecular tool called CRISPR that allows us to edit sections of DNA. This tool can snip specific parts of genetic code out and replace them with new segments, eliminating diseases or giving creatures whole new traits. (Loria 2018)

 Bill Gates and his colleagues financed the development of CRISPR-Cas9 for $120,000,000. His goal was to provide extended life by eliminating disease. Scripture says things like to make a name for themselves (Gen 11:4). Perhaps that is Gates’s desire!

Christians rely on God for eternal life and here we have Bill Gates, the modern-day “Nimrod,” stalking God with his own fabricated “tower to heaven.” If Christians depend on Gates and technology, just where will the Tekton, Jesus, come into the picture? Jesus revealed that with the recount of how the Israelites who were bitten by deadly snakes would live if they only looked to Jesus, but if by their own devices, they would die (John 3:14).

Even if CRISPR-Cas9 is good; it is bad because God is canceled out of culture, and the “mighty hunter,” Gates, takes a shot at God and not just at ourselves.

If you want an extra fifteen years or so, just pray earnestly for it; King Hezekiah did that and by the use of a poultice of figs: 

⁵ Thus, saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, “I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord. ⁶ And I will add unto thy days fifteen years… (2 Kings 20:5-6)

 The poultice was credited, and not God, so the next fifteen years was one tribulation after another, even with that godly man.

God added time to Hezekiah’s life, and so may Bill Gates’s concoction. The problem was that Hezekiah was no longer the same inside because he trusted the poultice and Christians would not be the same inside for trusting Bill Gates’s solution! Remember from the story of Moses how magicians could mimic the miracles of God. That still applies!

Not said but imperative; Hezekiah depended on figs for healing. Not by coincidence, Adam depended on figs for wisdom beyond what God gave in partaking of the fig tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Just as the Tree of Life is in each of us, and by that, I mean the Genome of God, so is the Tree of Knowledge. Mankind has two “trees” within and because God is still in us to some extent, He has grace. The forbidden fruit of the tree is genetic as well and it is in all of us… in our nature: 

¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, ²⁰ idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, ²¹ envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like… (Gal 5:19-20)

 How much clearer does it need to be? The flesh is our genomes. Within the nature of man are all those evil things. Because sin is in our very identity — in our DNA — means that any work that we do is not efficacious. CRISPR-Cas9 has the capability of gene editing. It would be good if CRISPR could edit out all those genetic traits but that would make mankind the gods!

On the other hand, what could be spliced-in? 

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, ²³ meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (Gal 5:22-23)

 God could have genned us that way and He did. However, the genes of the Wicked One edited-out those traits and provided the traits that lead to death from the previous list.

If technology removes the choices from those, then God is history. Relying on mankind to do the things of God would be as crucifying Him again.

But what if the doctors are like Mengele? What if they require super-soldiers as Hitler needed for the Blitzkreig? Whereas Nazis invented crystal methadone to create fearless and carefree soldiers, what if nefarious governments desire to do the same?

Well, China has announced that initiative; they will create a new strand of Nazi super-soldiers [2] using CRISPR-Cas9. (Keown 2020). Not that they already have done that, but that is their goal, and according to CRISPR claims, that seems quite rational and possible.

Recall the two trees of the Garden of Eden? The Tree of Life was the bright side. If it was a genetic tree, then all things would be good! On the other hand, the Tree of Knowledge had both a bright side and a dark side — good and evil. Since it was of God, it was good, but because of its misuse, it could be evil. All things have two sides now, especially people!

Referring to CRISPR-Cas9, many find it worrisome:

But there’s a dark side to CRISPR. A scientist or biohacker with basic lab know-how could conceivably buy DNA sequences and, using CRISPR, edit them to make an even more panic-inducing bacteria or virus. What’s to stop a rogue scientist from using CRISPR to conjure up an even deadlier version of Ebola or a more transmissible SARS? (Baer 2020)

 That is indeed a dark side to CRISPR technology, but it could get darker! What if China is successful with their creation of super-soldiers? What if some dictator mandates silly things and people fail to comply? Then that foolish government could create “compliant man”!

Is it possible to change the nature of man so that all good is gone and evil spliced in? With Lucifer, nearly anything is possible! What is not possible for him is goodness.

Looking further down the pike, would it be possible to create transhumans with CRISPR-Cas9? Satan already has done that, but can the depraved be made totally depraved? Depravity is in those with the nature of the Beast. Is it possible to make androids that think and act as humans? Recent technology reveals that we are close:

LaMDA’s conversational skills have been years in the making. Like many recent language models, including BERT and GPT-3, it’s built on Transformer, a neural network architecture that Google Research invented and open-sourced in 2017. That architecture produces a model that can be trained to read many words (a sentence or paragraph, for example), pay attention to how those words relate to one another and then predict what words it thinks will come next.

But unlike most other language models, LaMDA was trained on dialogue. During its training, it picked up on several of the nuances that distinguish open-ended conversation from other forms of language. One of those nuances is sensibleness…

But the most important question we ask ourselves when it comes to our technologies is whether they adhere to our AI Principles. Language might be one of humanity’s greatest tools, but like all tools it can be misused. Models trained on language can propagate that misuse — for instance, by internalizing biases, mirroring hateful speech, or replicating misleading information. And even when the language it’s trained on is carefully vetted, the model itself can still be put to ill use. (Collins 2021) 

LaMDA is the model for WOKE speech and WOKE-think. The synthetic speech and thoughts of whatever transhumans that come about must be acceptable speech. What have we learned from the current administration? That MAGA speech is hate speech and his (Biden’s) meanness is love.

What principle is that? Popper’s Paradox of Tolerance — “in order to maintain a tolerant society, the society must retain the right to be intolerant of intolerance” (Wikipedia 2001). It is therefore okay to hate the hateful, or at least hate those who the intolerant has defined as “hateful.”

With that said, LaMDA could be programmed with that paradox and kill with the motivation of improving the world.

LaMDA would merely be the speech and thought of the transhuman. LaMDA would require a body to be considered human. Already, technicians have created a robot that can excel any activities of human beings that is even more flexible and daring than the best acrobats. 

The conference covers a wide range of topics related to Robot and Human Interactive Communication, involving theories, methodologies, technologies, empirical and experimental studies. Papers related to the study of robotic technology, psychology, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, human factors, ethics and policies, interaction-based robot design and other topics related to human-robot interaction are welcome. (31st IEEE International Conference 2022)

 To view the robots with artificial intelligence (AI) one only need to view a video on YouTube® (World Robot Conference 2022). Even Albert Einstein was created in physical features and thoughts!

Artificial intelligence (AI) is here! AI is more intelligence than all the knowledge of the world combined. Remember the earlier chapter about Wikipedia and its synthetization in genetics? That is AI. Why would anyone even need all that artificial knowledge? To overcome God!

Now back to my discussion with the doctor. His knowledge base was greater than mine, but his wisdom was certainly not as keen. I believe that I have a gift of discernment as I test all things by scripture.

My doctor, I am sure, means well but he is looking at only the positive aspects. All goodness can be abused and transformed into evil. Why fear genetic editing? Because of its potential to be used for harm.

Who generally receives the harm? Those who fail to comply with the standards of the economy in which they live.

Jews suffered harm because their genes were considered inferior, even dangerous. Christians — the “Confessing Church” — led by Dietrich Bonnhoeffer suffered greatly because they just would not comply with Nazi standards. True Christians would not stand idly by as any group suffers persecution but today Christians stand silently by as the germline of so many is cut off with abortion!

Jews are always the persecuted, but after they gained power, the Nazis had their “Night of Long Knives” wherein their allies were killed. They had even used homosexuals to gain power but once they had power, homosexuals were targeted by the long knives.

Likewise, the Nazis used the church but once they had power, they took over the church and Christianity became Aryanism wherein other races were unwelcome.

The nature of man since the fall has been to misuse good for evil. It is in the genes. Those who think that CRISPR is for the good of mankind do not know the nature of mankind.

My doctor has that mentality. He sees only good. He is a United Methodist and for the most part, their gospel is the “social gospel,” and church is for the good of mankind.  That doctrine is humanism, but a great many confessing Christians still attend the United Methodist Church even though they deviate from traditional Christianity on abortion, homosexuality, and true divine justice.

Rather than blaming the doctor for his attitude, perhaps he is only following his religion.

The German Nazi Church was called “Positive Christianity” wherein Jewishness was eliminated, and the genome of Jesus was even made Aryan. United Methodism has many similarities to Positive Christianity.

I was once a United Methodist but saw the error in their doctrine. Just as with any denomination, the doctrine does not define the Christian and there remain many righteous Methodists. The problem is their future. Just to whom will they serve?

My doctor may possibly serve science. His attitude revealed his inner self. It was obvious that he trusted science over Christian doctrine as he rolled his eyes when I quoted scripture.

Much can be said about transhumanism but in this age, we are there. The Tree of Knowledge has budded a new creature that is neither human nor machine but transhuman. They are meant to serve us but with superior knowledge and Luciferin wisdom, perhaps we shall serve them.

Ironically, just as the created turned on the Creator in the beginning, the created androids may turn on their creators in the ending. Imagine, if you can, artificial pseudo-Einstein making a fool of Bill Gates. That could happen with modern technology, or even Satan making a fool of us for standing silently by while it happens. (Eye-roll here, I guess.)

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[1] Josef Mengele was the Nazi doctor who ran genetic experiments on Germans during the Third Reich. Those experiments in eugenics were so grotesque that Mengele is now known as the epitome of evil. Nazism differs from regular Marxist fascism in that its purpose was to rid the world of inferior peoples using eugenics.

[2] Because eugenics defines Nazis, then any Marxist government that uses eugenics would be Nazi-like, and that applies to American political ideology.