Artificial Intelligence With Humans At the Center

Can Christian beliefs and modern scientific sciences work together in harmony? With the progress of artificial intelligence, many academic seminars have been held in search of the role and direction of the church with this new reality. An article in the Catholic Peace Weekly brings the issue to the attention of the readers.


The Institute for the Study of Religion at the Catholic University of Suwon presented the results of a study on the social influence and direction of theology with this new reality. The theme of 'The Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Role of the Church'  was meaningful because it was the first time that church experts announced their findings.

They were united in pinpointing out the technological development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution should have humanity at the center. In terms of improving the conveniences of human life, much will be done but AI will never replace humans created intelligence. If we create a 'life-oriented anthropological model' through wisdom gained from religion and science, we will be able to cope with the destructive potential of science and technology.

Professors of philosophy also said, if we want to make the fourth industrial revolution an opportunity rather than a crisis of human existence, we must make development go into a friendly human direction. What needs to be developed further in the new technology is the spiritual and transcendent nature of humanity. There is a world of love and faith in human beings which is impossible to attain only with technical big data accumulation. The church needs to find and present the path to human spiritual development and opening to grace.

Another participant hopes for the cooperation of the different fields of study so that all will benefit. There is optimism for the era of the fourth industrial revolution. However, also concerns that various problems will arise such as human exclusion and the destruction of the ecosystem caused by the replacement of the labor force with machinery.

At another symposium on 'Today's Ecology'  the participants expressed their desire for a deepening humanism but with great concern that when technology develops in the absence of philosophy, human dignity is ignored. When tools are not used correctly we have to take notice.
 

Neohumanism maximizes the humanity that artificial intelligence can not do and interprets it and reflects on it philosophically. Christians are able to solve the problem of human exclusion by warmly welcoming those who are alienated in this era of polarization.

There was also a voice saying that Christians should take the lead in recovering the ecosystem destroyed by industrialization. Many in society continue to pursue commercialism unwisely, and exploiting, developing, profiting, and speculating on the environment, promoting the death of the earth. Christians insist the earth and nature are gifts from God. We should reflect on practical methods for the restoration of the ecosystem through reflection on wealth and waste—living simply and sharing.

Bishops' Synod

Two particularly remarkable words at the 15th World Bishops Synod meeting, which ended on October 28th were Latin synodalitas (English synodality) and listening, which can be called the spirit behind the synod. An article by a journalist of the Catholic Peace Weekly gives the readers some ideas, of what happend at the recent Synod.

Synods, translated into Church legal terms, are 'delegate councils'. The Greek synodos is made up of two words: syn=together plus hodos, a way. Joon-Yang (Catholic University Professor) said, "When you translate, you can express it as 'going together' or 'walking together'.

If so, who is the subject of the going? The subject is the church, the people of God. The synod is a meeting of delegates, but in fact it is a meeting of the people of God—a meeting for the people of God and a meeting for the participation of the people of God. However, because practically God's people can not participate, the bishops who represent the people of God in the individual churches, represent the people. Therefore, the synod is the process of realizing the synodic spirit, that is, the spirit of synod—the people of God come together.

The important thing in this process is listening. Listening is not simply hearing, but opening your mind and heart to listen to the other person's story. Fr. Thomas Reese, an American Jesuit columnist, writes that the word listen has been used with at least three different meanings among the bishops.

The first is that bishops are listening to young people to discover their questions and give answers with the traditional theology of the church. They have already all the answers to the questions that are being asked. They see the young people as empty vessels into which they will pour content.

The second is an approach that thinks the church needs to change and to renew in order to respond to the inquiries and requests of young people. They see many of the approaches to the young people not working and need change and reform.

The third approach is a totally different approach practiced by the Taizé community of France. In the Taizé community, the prior, Brother Alois, has brought the listening to a completely different level.  The members of the community listen to the young people to discover where the spirit is alive in their lives, even when they are not believers. 

Listeners are there to help the young see the presence of the Spirit in their lives. Alois is convinced that God is love and wherever there is love, compassion, a thirist for justice, and reconciliation  then God is present even in the unbaptized non-believer. The young people need help to recognize the presence of the Spirit.

The Synod adopted and finalized the final report for the pope. However, it is clear that the results which emerged from the process, must be constantly embodied in the life of the church. How will the Korean church go about implementing what was concluded at the Synod?

Virtues of the Pessimist

A counseling psychologist in the Catholic Times gives her answer to persons who have a habit of remembering the bad things that keep them from enjoying the present. She explains that negative thoughts are not all bad for they can help reduce anxiety and help growth.

Humans can't live without thinking. We are always thinking about something. The average person thinks about something different, every 5 seconds. We live with countless thoughts and she quotes an authority who says that most people have from 50 to 60,000 different thoughts during a 20 hour day.

She agrees and consequently, she says, many of those thoughts are negative. She mentions the book written by a psychologist, Julie Norem: The Postive Power of Negative Thinking. She insists on the strengths of pessimists who can be anxious about results and imagine the worst but can succeed and live happily. They are able to manage anxiety and do well.

The 'defensive pessimists' in this book are those who anticipate negative outcomes and use their worries and anxieties appropriately to prevent bad results. In the light of the possibility of something going wrong, they try to anticipate the worst outcome and make efforts to prevent it.

The problem is seeing 'negative thoughts' as unconditionally bad, rather than seeing everything as unconditionally positive. Past experiences teach us that things may go wrong, remembering that bad things can happen and keeping expectations low; negative thoughts can help us to grow. We want to forget the mistakes of the past, but it's not the right answer to live as an unconditional optimist.

There is a movie called: Together with the Gods-Sin and Punishment, which was shown last year. In the plot, there is a process of trials for 49 days after the death of a human being. In these 49 days, the dead man is judged on how he lived his life and reincarnation is decided. This is based on the Buddhists understanding of life after death. It was the second most popular movie in Korean film history.

In the movie there are 7 hells dealing with a different aspect of a person's life: causing the death of another, sloth, deceit, cold-heartedness, betrayal, violence and filial impiety. Those who were assigned to defend the hero put in a good word defending him. In life, many people commit wrongs and only a few have the courage to apologize, ask for forgiveness and forgive others. The hero because of his apologies and forgiving others, is forgiven and granted reincarnation back to the world.

We usually don't want to look back at our past mistakes. After seeing the movie, she reflected on her past mistakes. Apologizing for our mistakes and asking for forgiveness and forgiving others is something that we can all do in this life. Seeing the negative, allows us to change and begin living a new life in the here and now, preparing for death and our own final judgment. In preparing for the future we don't cover up our past, but learn from it and see things as they are—real forgiveness and reconciliation.

Forgiveness and Repentance

Forgiveness is always a big problem for many. Writing in Bible & Life, a seminary moral professor, gives us some thoughts on forgiveness and its meaning for a Christian.
 
He recalls seeing the movie 'Secret Sunshine' which opened in 2007. It moved him deeply. A child of a widow had been abducted and killed. She had become a Christian and her new found faith was asking her to forgive so she visited the prison to forgive the killer of her son.
 
She told the prisoner she was there to forgive him. However, he told her very calmly that he also had become a Christian and had been forgiven by God. She was the one he should be asking for forgiveness and hearing the words of the prisoner, destroyed the little faith she had. "The story of a Bug" on which the movie was based had for its theme: A person who takes away the opportunity to forgive is less than a bug. The movie leaves us with a number of questions.
 
Who is forgiving and why the forgiving? We all remember cases where harm was done to us either physically or mentally and we found it difficult to forgive. In the confessional, this is one of the more frequent sins confessed. Why is it so difficult to forgive?
 
Strictly speaking, it is only with the help of God that it is possible.The reason for forgiveness is to remove the injustice that was committed and to return to pre-injustice situation. Asking for forgiveness, we want to return to a time we are no longer a sinner. This is only possible with God. Like in the movie 'Secret Sunshine', after we inflict pain to another is all we need to do is go to God for forgiveness? Obviously not—we can not make our sinful actions disappear. God is the God of truth.
 
What is necessary is the person who has inflicted pain needs to face the sin and repent and to ask for forgiveness. We need the humility and courage to ask for forgiveness. However, knowing this the giving of forgiveness is not easy for we don't do it with the head but with the heart. At times we want to forgive with the head but the heart doesn't want to go along.

Those who refuse to forgive are pained from two sides. One is from the material loss and mental suffering from the action of the other and the breakdown of the relationship with the other. Because of this, there are many who  can't live a normal life. Those who can't forgive and those who need to be forgiven both are in pain.
 
Consequently, repentance and forgiveness, the one who has committed the injustice and the one who suffered both have diminished their freedom and are in search of it. Forgiveness allows one to become free from the scars inflicted and to regain freedom. Forgiveness is the weapon that is to overcome the ever-present sin that spreads in the world. Both the one who forgives and the one forgiven are able to grow in spiritual maturity and in knowledge of God's love
 
With this in mind we can speak out like St. Paul in Romans 5:20: "However great the number of sins committed, grace was even greater."

Reasons For Fake News

In journalism giving a title to a story or article is of great importance, consequently it takes time to select one that is proper. Editorial staff take the article from the reporters and compress the entire article with a few words. The principle of journalism that it should be accurate, fair and objective is fundamental. It must be core, easy and sensible, and reflect the identity and dignity of the medium. A one time editorial staff member of a Korean newspaper gives us some thoughts to remember.

"How do you choose a title that catches the eyes of readers while keeping all these conditions?" This is the concern of the editorial writers that have been handed down since the beginning. With titling the natural temptation of exaggeration or distortion is present. The rule should be to represent the core content of the article and not exaggerate or distort.

An article with an exaggerated or distorted title was not called fake news. It was untrue news, non-truth news. However, in addition to traditional media such as newspapers, broadcasts, online news, and  one-person media based on them: podcasts, blogs, and SNS the appearance of fake news has increased greatly.

"Fake News" as well as the contents of articles and  'fake titles' has become enormous. On the Internet  if someone clicks on a sultry title often the "fake title"  has nothing to do with the contents of the article. Editors tend to be fascinated by titles because of economic interests that try to increase ad revenue by increasing readership. Clicks are money, attracting attention earns money. 

The best journalism technology is also in crisis. Traditionally newspapers and related online media have less of a problem but they suffer also from "clicks" because of media competition for advertising. "In the case of online media, one can not give up on a pseudo-title or a distorted title because the click counts for a great part of the total revenue," says one editor of a daily newspaper. If the title of the online news is selected like the title of a newspaper,  netizens usually ignore it. The classic pattern for exaggerating and distorting the title for economic reasons in the past was different.

A second reason for choosing an exaggerated title is  the philosophy, ideology or sentiment of the media. The liberal or conservative ideology of the owners of the media will influence the way the news is delivered. Putting the word extreme into the article without any objective reason for the use gives away the ideolgy of the media and tells the reader where the media is coming from. For this reason,    disciplinary action taken by the Korean Newspaper Ethics Committee is at times necessary.

The third reason is the editors' prejudices about the contents of an article:  "'A' received 10 billion won under investigation on charges of embezzlement," he may choose to skip under investigation and simply write charged with embezzlement.

Whatever the reason, they all choose "what the editor wants, not the article content." "It is time to follow the journalists' adage that the reporter should write only what he knows and the editor should select only from the contents of the the reporter for the titles.

Searching for Authenticity

A priest professor writes about authenticity in the Catholic Times and begins by telling the readers about the happiness he experienced in seeing the Pope and President Moon on TV. They have been named influential leaders by Time magazine because of their authenticity which differs from some of the old leaders. Both have suffered crises and severe trials in their lives but ultimately are sharing God's life and giving joy and hope to the world.
 
Modern society is often called "the era of authenticity". Today, all religions teach "the journey of a full life is to find oneself." It's not adopting the ways of another but to discover in daily life what is inside. In the journey one searches for the authentic self, values, feelings, and one's personal meaning of life, in one's own way. At times it's an adventure— rejection, mistakes, learning experience, failure and pain are all there.
 
However, 'authenticity' opens the way to 'reflection and learning'  and between the light and darkness, life is experienced and examined. One tastes the qualitative difference of living in comfort, safety, and with the worldly success that comes from living only with the expectations of others, and the spiritual dimension of life in all its depth when living authentically.
 
Today, as we live life with uncertainty and suffering from the infinite competition of the Neo-liberal market system, it is easy to be drawn to the standards of a materialistic world order. Where do I fit in when education, money, appearances, all the exterior qualities are held in high esteem? Money and utility are the dimensions of life that will predict the future. Where in this kind of world do I have time to understand who I am and discover the important values of life?
 
The writer introduces us to the BTS band and their recent song "love yourself, love myself." He considers it a worldly version of the Gospel. They give words to their fatigue, trials, frustrations, mistakes, and failures ... It's no coincidence that young people all over the world are enthusiastic about the message of hope, love, and faith that delivers their "authentic" stories.

Aren't the happiest moments in life those when I begin to know myself? We know spiritual joy. We find ourselves in swamp-like conditions at times and overcome by strong desires and because of the unrest we feel insides, living authentically becomes difficult. However, when we look at our inner world with the loving gaze of God that loves us as we are we can discover authenticity in our deepest desire.

It would be great if the young students who are struggling to prepare for entrance examinations and the young people who are preparing for employment were able to see themselves as God sees them. No matter whether one does well in the tests or not, regardless of grades, each is of great worth and when one tastes the true meaning of life in Him, new vigor is regained.

Our church can also bear fruit when we find and testify to 'authenticity'. Modern society no longer respects external authority. The Church needs to witness to a new gospel with spiritual and inner authority just like Jesus Christ. Before we demand obedience to the church tradition, we ask for grace that we can find and mercifully accompany each one of those we meet as a truly precious being. We give glory to God when we live in this authentic way.

We Know What To Do But It's Difficult!

A high school freshman complains that he has a headache when he goes to the study hall. Teachers have told the students to keep windows closed because of the fine dust. Consequently, we have a room filled with fine dust made by the 100 students using the hall— chemicals coming from the desks and equipment in the hall, the sweat and foot odors etc., and carbon dioxide from the breathing. So begins an article in the environment column of the Catholic Peace Weekly by a member of the bishops' committee on the environment.
 
In such a space the students can't help but feel somewhat dizzy. Burn the whole house trying to catch a house bug is what the writer of the article humorously feels is happening. In Europe, the determining factor for children to concentrate is the degree of carbon dioxide in the classroom. We are suffocating the children to prevent fine dust from entering the classroom.

Korea has an indoor cooking culture; air quality is worse than foreign countries. Indeed, many studies have reported that room air is from 100 to 1000 times worse than outdoor air. So it's not healthy to be in an airtight room for fear of fine dust, ventilation is important.

Why does fine dust occur? Briefly, fine dust occurs when you burn something. Internal combustion engines, use of fossil fuels, exhaust gas from power plants, smoke from factories all contribute to our air problems. Among them, thermal power plants and vehicles cause the most problems. Air conditioners continue to increase because of the heat and household appliances such as heating appliances, kimchi refrigerators, and the like fill our houses.

According to a recent report by the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry:  Korea's coal-fired power generation in 2017 increased 11.4%  from the previous year, a record high. Vehicles, which are identified as the main cause of fine dust, has increased from 33% (2002) to 42% (2016). Korea desires a decrease in fine dust but is doing the opposite. There is a lot of worry about fine dust, but the behavior does not change.

To solve the fine dust problem fine dust itself has to be reduced. It's not possible to fundamentally solve fine dust by recommending the use of air cleaners or masks that avoids fine dust temporarily and does nothing to eradicate the cause.

Many people blamed China for causing fine dust. However, we know now that the amount of fine dust generated in Korea is greater than the fine dust from China. We are the ones generating most of the fine dust that is bad for health, more harmful to children and the elderly.

However, parents are not conscious of this as they idle the car and wait for their children in front of schools and academies. In the space where children are breathing, parents do not know that they are generating dust particles themselves and are part of the cause of air pollution. Beginning from what I can do is the beginning of change.
 
The decrease of fine dust depends on each one of us. When we use anything that requires energy from burning, we are adding to the amount of fine dust in the atmosphere. The more needs I have, the more energy required and we have a vicious cycle.

When we order goods, factories make them, they send them by vehicles, but all of this requires energy that comes from burning. So the only answer is to live uncomfortably. Minimal life, Eco-life is the answer. How long will we continue to live and do the opposite of what we so desire— breathing clean air?