WORLD DAY OF SOCIAL COMMUNICATION: Artificial intelligence and the Wisdom of the Heart – Pope Francis
What are we communicating and celebrating – life, love, God, goodness, beauty, joy, care, truth, lies, fake, bad…?
The wisdom of the heart in communication entails engaging IT and Social Communication media to transmit, inform, entertain, challenge, inspire, evangelize, safeguard, recreate, glorify, and sanctify. It means Celebrating Communication platforms – google, Aletheia (Catholic Spirituality, Lifestyle, World News, and Culture), Wikipedia, YouTube, TV, phones, internet, and social network platforms… and cautious of their inherent snares and danger. Thank you, Lord, for the ingenuity, creativity, marvel, and interconnectivity of communication in these media platforms.
Yet, with the resignation in 2023 of AI’ godfather’ Geoffrey Hinton, who warned of dangers as he quit Google, artificial intelligence has only become scarier, hence the story of the monster that devoured its creator.
“The creation of the monster” is an extract from Chapter 5 of “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus“. It is a Gothic novel written by Mary Shelley in 1818, taking inspiration from a nightmare she had during a summer passed in the Lake Geneva region. “… I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet… I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs…. I had worked hard for nearly two years for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this, I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart… I beheld the wretch – the miserable monster whom I had created. He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped and rushed downstairs…”
With so many hours spent online, on social media or video games every day, people have never become further from each other yet next to each other.
With so few hours of silence and quiet meditation in Church or at home daily, the human heart, soul and mind have never become more restless or saturated.
With not surprising polarization of left and right in relation to technology and social media, with ”conservatives” saying the internet is the devil’s soak pit and the entertainment industry the school for fools, one remains between and betwixt.
Indeed, in the past, in view of communication, it used to be reduced to prose or poetry, science or religion, facts or fiction, technology or entertainment. Now, it has expanded and exploded into a modern Areopagus and AI, into the internet and intranet where the heart is in danger of shrinking.
Maybe with Pope Francis, now is the time to reflect, to whistle blow, or to find a balance. A time to through in the pros and cons in prose and poetic pun.
I have recently heard a Catholic Radio talk (Responsible parenting) on the Impact of Smartphones on Children’s mental health in contrast to outdoor plays, encouraging parents to seriously consider no phones till your child is sixteen; phones as bad as puberty blockers, no social media till you are sixteen, phones affecting deep thinking, addictive smartphone usage affecting the ability to consolidate long term memory because of sustained concentration on the constant new information and interaction, with dopamine feel good wanting more.
The Way of the Heart with the philosophers Søren Kierkegaard and Blaise Paschal and the Wisdom of the Heart with Pope Francis calls us to reappreciate and reexamine what and how we communicate on WhatsApp, google, Facebook, X, TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. The pros and cons of AI and robotics include amazing online counselling ministries, zoom meetings, inspirations, reflections, and music. Perhaps a big shout-out to AI Magisterium, AI priest, and metasaints Roblox Gaming platform, too?
The world and its dealings like politics, environment, culture, academics, and religion will always have both the sacred and profane, the devil and the angels, the dark and the light, death and life. Like the kings, priests, prophets and apostles of ancient and new eras, wisdom like humility in a transient, temporary, fragile world is both evident and enduring, both natured and nurtured and always indispensable, as with King Solomon, the prophet Daniel to the Immanuel wonderful counsellor.
Our noble task is to guard the world, the Church, the families, and ourselves from drowning, suffocating, or being devoured by monsters or monstrous vicious or salient attacks from any form of Telecommunication, Media, or Technology.
Christ Jesus came to give us and all life to the full, whereas the thief and the devil come only to kill and steal and destroy. We said yes to be Gospel messengers to bring joy, healing, grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness to the broken-hearted, imprisoned, or impoverished. We say no to any tools or voices that break hearts, cause sleepless nights, or put down one, many or any. Technology, communication, and media, human or artificial, are a means to an end, and God forbid any demonic or destructive strings. May the way of the heart be rediscovered in the Church, in the cultures and religions, in politics and economics, in Science, Medicine, Technology, Media and not the least, in AI. The way of the heart. The way of love, peace, joy, healing, forgiveness, construction, and upliftment.
Fr. Emmanuel Mbeh, MHM
