Humanity and Artificial Intelligence

Recently, we had articles daily on the competition between the AlphaGo computer program and one of the world's best players in the board game Go. The first time the computer beat a professional human Go player. Articles in the Korean press were many and in the  Peace Weekly, we have a columnist giving us his ideas on the subject.
 
Work of the Church, he says, has become more difficult. In about 10 years, we will have Alpha doctors, lawyers, teachers and reporters. St. Benedict said many years ago that inactivity is "the enemy of the soul." Many will lose their jobs. Stephen Hawkins and Elon Musk have warned that within a hundred years, the end of humanity is possible because of artificial intelligence, and want some controls over the research.

Primitive artificial intelligence is not a problem,  but the strong advanced type should be controlled as is nuclear research. Terminator movies are examples of what is meant. Nick Bostrom of Oxford University says that in his research, humanity always ends up defeated.

AlphaGo program could upgrade itself and learn something new in the playing and be creative in beating the human player. Humanity in the use of natural resources has brought upon ourselves many problems, this, he says, will be the outcome of advances in artificial intelligence.  

AI will replace humans. Soon we will gain workers but lose more than are gained. With the loss of work, we will have the death of the human spirit and more suicides.  

Secondly, we will have these advances in the wealthier countries of the world and more inequality in the world, more conflict, violence and the destruction of communities.

Thirdly, more primitive development of artificial intellect will bring the temptation to develop advanced types and more money.

Google DeepMind made the AlphaGo, and they have instituted an ethical committee for its use. However, in the future with the greed of the human mind, and the possibilities of profit, it will be difficult to control. All humanity will be influenced. He doesn't like the idea of Europe and the United States having control. Studies have to be made on the good use of  the new possibilities. 

What Does It Mean to Understand?

We make a community by working with individuals. A philosophy professor in a Catholic University Theology Department begins his article in View from the Ark with these words, reminding us how important the individual was in Scholastic Philosophy.

He brings to our attention the principle of individuation a term which most of the readers would not be familiar, and wonders, whether he lost the interest of most of the readers by mentioning it. Most of the discussions we have deal with productivity, which makes this mode of talking unfamiliar and strange.  

Recently, a very popular TV program had three words  which they used in the title, and he had no idea what they meant, nor did the program interest him. Frequently, he hears words the young are using, original words; he doesn't understand, and admits  he is a member of the old school.

Ludwig Wittgenstein, English philosopher, mentions that women from a village, when he heard them talking, he didn't understand them even though they spoke his native language. Necessary is to know the rules they are following in speaking: accents, way of speaking, gestures, etc.. To understand another's words, knowing what the words mean is not all that is necessary. One has to understand the non-verbal, if we want communication.  

Presently, the word communication  is continually on our lips. However, if we don't understand the other person's life, and the word games used we will not understand what is being said. When we trust the words from our mouth and believe only that is necessary, we are bullies and talking down to the other.

When this is done even in the family, we are nurturing hatred, anger and even violence. Dealing with others in a different culture and with different patterns of life are we not making the same mistakes? In Korea when we use the word unification but use ridicule and threats, are we conscious of the harm that is being done to understanding? We are forgetting North Korea's history, for over seventy years is different from the South. We ignore the principle of individualization.  We need a language they understand. They are like another country.  

Even in the family when one justifies themselves, and nurses their hurts, there is little hope of a resolution, dialogue is impossible. Dialogue begins when we acknowledge the pain and scars of the other, and show understanding. Mutual understanding  does not take place with words but with sympathy for the other. He hopes that our leaders inscribe this on their hearts.

Cultural Shock

Catholic Church of Korea is sending missioners both lay, religious and clerical to overseas missions in greater numbers, and we are beginning to hear stories about their experiences. Many are diocesan priests who volunteer for a period of years and return to their dioceses and pastoral work.   

One such priest writes about his experience after two parishes in which he worked as an assistant and sent to Bolivia. Missioners receive a certain amount of formation but they usually are persons with a recent desire for mission so the thought and new experience brings fear. How was he going to live by himself and adapt to the new culture? He spends some time in his article for the diocesan bulletin, explaining one of the difficulties he brought upon himself.

He was at a mission station that became a parish. One of the girls in the mission station came to speak to him. He had finished the study of Spanish and worked in the parish for about 3 months but when the girl spoke he didn't understand her. He asked the girl to repeat what she said and she did, and this continued a number times. He told her: "padre, no entiende nada"  (Father doesn't understand anything).

As soon as he heard these words  he uttered, he was overcome with anger and returned home. He felt disregarded and his self esteem plummeted. His  guilty conscience made him so distraught he was not able to sleep that night. With time he regained his composure. He reflected on what transpired that day, and realized  the reason for his anger was not the child but himself.

An adult, a priest he felt snubbed and it was hard to accept. His self worth had been damaged and he looked strait into the face of his pride. It was a great learning  experience.

He thanked  the child for helping him to face his problem. Because of his position there is the danger of looking down on others;  when his own self esteem is hurt he can lose his stability.

We are all of us of great value. Jesus gave us  a running description  of how to accept  being snubbed and disregarded and we know  who he was. Humility and  love were his response.

Year of Mercy

Many initiatives made in society and within the Church often remain slogans that sound and make us feel good, but with little follow-up or change in what we do.  

"Merciful Like the Father" is the motto for the Jubilee of Mercy, we  began last year on Dec. 8th, and will continue to Nov. 20th. We try to reflect God's mercy in our everyday actions and as Pope Francis stressed to bring about a "revolution of tenderness."

Both Catholic paper gave us a report on the  priests in one diocese, who decided at a general meeting, as a group of 114 priests, to show mercy in three different ways. They discussed this among themselves in deanery meetings and on their own, initiative concluded with three distinct actions.   

They will love the Sacrament of Penance and  experience the mercy of God in their time in the confessional. Secondly, they will tithe and give the money to the needy, and  in their  dealings with parishioners will show kindness, make efforts to be warm and  work for understanding  with all those they meet.

As messengers of mercy, they will  make this known to all the religious working in the diocese and all the parishes. The  motto is "Happiness of the Merciful."
 
After the visit of Pope Francis in 2014, the bishops of Korea also decided to prepare a bank book to help the poorer churches in Asia. This year they will help four of the churches, and continue in the future. Bishops and clergy of one of the dioceses, have set an example for the whole church. This has great meaning for all of us, were the words used in one of the editorials.

'Beads gathered together need to be threaded to be precious,' is a Korean proverb that the editorial mentions.  We need actions on these movements  if  thy are not to remain only slogans. The editorial  notes that the parishioners will be very happy to hear of the resolution, and hopes the example  will spread to other dioceses. The editorial concludes with applause for the bishops and priests.

Hidden but Important Work

Cleaning is a difficult job, and those that have experienced the drudgery of this work know it is never finished. There is always more to clean and little results are seen and quickly all returns shortly to the original condition. It is a war of attrition that continues. Rarely conscious of who, where and what, and easily forget the smell and the dirty environment.

Church buildings are also in need of cleaning. After many functions and events the cleaning awaits. After the events we leave behind litter but few are those who will spend time putting everything in its original spots, for we think it is the work for others. We who are Catholics have been given the mission of taking care of God's creation but she wonders how many are conscious of this mandate. A religious sister wants us to reflect on this issue in her article on the opinion page of the Catholic Times.

We need to consider the culture with its incessant drive to consume and to ignore  the ecological issues in our society. Trash, nuclear energy, environmental destruction, pollution, radioactivity and the like are put on the back burner, and even talking about the problems is considered out of place in many quarters.

There is always a minority who  see the problems and are willing to sacrifice for them. Korean Bishops during their spring meeting have decided to set up a committee to consider the problems we have with environment. She hopes priests will use the information in their sermons.

She wants us to be more sensitive to the many who work in the cleaning jobs of the world, who without notice, quietly work at their tasks. She hopes that we will be interested in their joys and sorrows  and she wants us to express thanks for what they do to care for our health and well being from early morning.

She concludes with the hope that when we use and discard anything we will give the action some thought. With the new committee she hopes the Church will take more interest in God's creation and its care and will be waiting to hear their voice.

God And Mammon

In the Seoul Diocesan Bulletin, a music critic gives us some thoughts on giving up love for gold. She goes back to her childhood, when she  occasionally saw neck scarfs made from the skins of foxes and weasels. She recalls how scared she was when she saw the face of the fox with its pointed nose and tail. The animals seemed ready to come back to life. They were killed to be of service to humans, and she found that sad.

Many years later when she was in Germany studying; she went to a natural history museum where she saw many fur coats on display. One of the coats was a leopard fur coat, with this explanation attached: "If you want to wear this beautiful coat it will mean that three leopards have to die." It was beautifully made, like a flower in bloom.

When she was visiting  there was a group of elementary school children present, and she over heard them say it was beautiful, and "I will never wear a fur coat." This was, she noted, the very feeling that those who  prepared the exhibition wanted  to hear. Educational results were quickly seen.

On German TV, you often see the places they raise animals, and the cruel ways the animals are killed for their fur. These scenes are shown to the viewers with the hope that shocked those buying fur coats will decrease. If citizens don't want them, the killings will end is the intention.  

In the past people who lived in cold places needed warm skins of animals to keep them warm but today more than warmth they are captivated by the beauty and hope it will reflect their own beauty, and a symbol of their personal abundance. However, fear that it will be lost is also the results of their possession.

A person who has an old car and another who has just bought a new expensive car and parks in front of an eating place their thinking is different. Where your treasure is there is your heart, Luke 12:34.

We can't find words that come right to the point, and said so clearly as these words of Jesus.
 
She brings to our attention the opera by Richard Wagner: The Ring of the Nibelung in which he used the mythical gods of the people of North Europe. A ring made from the gold from the Rhine River would give the owner all the power and wealth you'd want with only one condition: you give up loving and being loved. The water spirits were given the task to guard the gold; no one would be interested, they thought, and the gold was stolen.  

Her conclusion is the same as what Jesus said in Luke 16:13. "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other or be attentive to the one and despise the other."

Voting Wisely

Korea and the United States are both preparing for  elections, and one of the columnists in the Peace Weekly introduces us to the words of  the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church at the beginning of his article. 

"Political parties have the task of fostering widespread participation and making public responsibilities accessible to all. Political parties are called to interpret the aspirations of civil society, orienting them towards the common good, offering citizens the effective possibility of contributing to the formulation of political choices. They must be democratic in their internal structure, and capable of political synthesis and planning" (# 413).

The columnist after careful reading of the document sighs, lamenting that our political parties are far from what is envisioned in the above paragraph.  We are just a few weeks away from election, still don't have all the candidates, and continual discord within both parties.


Where is the effort to "interpret the aspirations of civil society and working for the common good?" Where do we have "offering citizens the effective possibility of contributing to the formation of political choices, democratic in their internal structures and capable of political synthesis and planning?"

On second thought, the columnist brings to mind the possibility of the discord coming from efforts to pick the best candidate for the National Assembly and the good of the country.

Here we can't turn our back on what is going on but need to work for a better future, and that requires that we participate in the voting process, and it should not stop with the vote.

The candidate should be the ones who will  work with all their abilities for the common good. When it comes to voting, and in our opinion, we don't have the best candidate we have to vote for the one that is least harmful for the country. It is then that we are  truly participating.  

Plato pointed our clearly: "One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics, is that you end up governed by someone worse if a man will not himself hold office and rule." This comes from 2300 years ago  but as valid today as it was in Plato's time. This is true not only in politics, but for all those we select to work in service to others.