AI advancement applied through the seven deadly sins
There are so many warning about what could happen with AI, and for each of them we are grateful. They bare the weight of knowing, and are doing their absolute best to share their truth. That’s not me. Decisions are what interest me. Incentives, decisions, problem solving. Instead of giving in to the worst case scenario, what decisions would need to happen for the best case. All answers live in history. There is no new information to know, just new technology to apply old stories. The two oldest stories include the answer. The seven deadly sins and the fruit of the spirit. Stories that have been told for generations. Tyra Banks even has an iconic America’s Next Top Model episode on the sins. (It’s my favorite, I had to add it).
Someone, somewhere, told my little human brain that the game is duality and these two old wise tales live on the opposite ends of the spectrums. If we just optimize decisions to be made from the fruit of our spirt, and reduce incentives to entice the same old stories that have held humans back for centuries, then we just may have a chance to come out of this with a world that I would want my children to inhabit.
7 deadly sins:
Pride: Excessive belief in one's own abilities or importance, showing contempt for the need for God or others.
Greed (Avarice): An intense, disordered desire for material wealth, money, or possessions.
Lust: An inordinate or excessive craving for physical and sexual desires.
Envy: Resentment or sorrow stirred by the excellence, good fortune, or possessions of another.
Gluttony: Overindulgence or excessive consumption of food and drink.
Wrath (Anger): Uncontrolled feelings of hatred, rage, or a disordered desire for revenge.
Sloth (Acedia): Apathy, laziness, or the failure to act and do what is good out of spiritual or physical weariness.
9 fruits of the spirit:
Love: Caring for others without expecting anything back.
Joy: A deep happiness that comes from God.
Peace: Calmness in your heart and good relations with others.
Patience: The ability to wait without getting angry.
Kindness: Treating people with gentle care.
Goodness: Doing what is moral and right.
Faithfulness: Being loyal and trustworthy.
Gentleness: Showing humility and meekness.
Self-control: Managing your own desires and actions.
And before you say, Danielle there are 2 more fruits than sins, I say to you GOOD. Lord knows we’ll need em. Let’s go through each sin with the application of AI and technology to detail how each has been the overarching story for the last major technical waves.
Pride. How AI became a Race is nothing more than human’s amazing ability to fall down the Pride hole. Sam, Dario, Elon… who are you putting your money on? There is an entire wave of humans begging to expand the race beyond a frontier models, a few men with a whole lot of power. Not because these are bad men, no they are not malificent creatures, but pride and it’s elixir power will rot the soul if not taught it’s antidote. What’s the opposite of self importance? Gentlness. All we need is one founder to come out with the persona closer to Mr. Rogers than the boring, over used stereotype of the competitive autistic guy from SF. Western culture misreads gentleness as dim, but quite the contrary. Think of the interiror landscape and soul vulnerabilty of a man who is able to slow down to abstract wisdom from a child. I’d argue that is the same man who is going to slow down to abstract wisdom from the underrepresented person in the room. That may consider how this technology can benefit not only them, and their small bubble of this existence, but all of humanity. And that widening of the appature, the lengthinging of the time horizon from quarters to generations is what we need to survice.
Greed. I am not anti-money. Quite the contrary. I love money. I am blessed to be a blessing. I just take the sacred economy extremely seriously, because the word is exactly what it is… currency. We have made Money our God, alongside comfort but thats a different sin. Think of every company being made right now that is “AI for _____” love it. great. I’m not saying this is wrong, this is progress. So where is the line between Greed and it’s antidote? Well since this is one that humans have propped up to God it gets 2. Love and Goodness. The closed model vs open. These are Greed v Goodness decisions. And they’re effing HARD, but they are so necessary. I thank God every day for the presidents who made the National Park System. What a divine example of future planning for Greed. What don’t we want ourselves to touch when our mouths are dripping with desire? I’ve written about this before, but until we heal our relationship with money we will not be a current, and money will not flow healthily through our economy.
Lust. I do not want to have to explain to my teenage son that his AI girlfriend is not real. Loneliness is so real, and these LLMs have massive capability to fill in the void for lack of human connection. But I PLEAD to you, what is the line? Do we want a world where you’re unsure if your son’s new girlfriend is carbon or silicone? Left uncheck this technology ends in sex suits, AI girlfriends, and a boom in the sex industry. Its polarity, self control, is more than just mastering the male sex urge (I say male, because it’s true). It’s about control over your body. I have such deep reverence for the physical body, and staying inside of it. It’s not easy. It’s easier to live in your mind, a video game, or online.. social media has proved that to be true. It’s much more difficult to stay physically present. This antidote is as much about respecting the humanness of our body as it is about sex.
Envy. The fear of missing out has caused some of the greatest failures of our century. Similar to pride, but unlike it’s self focus, envy drives compulsively to have as much as thy neighbor. To build the company faster, to make more money than him, all without taking time to think about second order impacts, let alone third. You literally can not slow down if envy is in your drivers seat, becuase the only truth for the majority of people on this planet is that there are many, many people who have more more than you. This isn’t just greed, this is more of anything that you feel you do not have. Love. Friendship. Cool clothes. Envious of love, you build artifictial relatinoships. Envious of friendship, you build artificial relationships. It all leads towards the same type of creations that are bred out of the worst of humanity. Take it’s antidote Joy, and you find you feet more firmly on the ground.
I’ll finish up gluttony, wrath, and sloth in another post as these more governed by the God of Comfort.
My hope for all is that we can find in ourselves the fruit of the spirit.
