Yes, that Mike JudgeThe Animation Show is coming to the Eastman House in Rochester on April 8th through April 10th, and I hope to go if I can get all of my schoolwork done that is due that weekend. Anybody else interested?
Watch the
'05 trailer.
About 9 months ago,
Tim Enloe linked to an excellent
post by the Cogitator on Artificial Intelligence, SF/Fantasy, and life in Christ.
You should go read the entire post, but here's some highlights:
" ... I see a glimmer of a powerful Christian truth at work in these madcap AI [artificial intelligence] ventures. In a nutshell, the Gospel is about the redemptive Lordship of Christ, and our collaboration with Him, by the Holy Spirit, in the establishment of His Kingdom. One of the primary features of His Kingdom is life -- life bursting from His wounds and from His resurrected glory, pouring into us and through us to the ends of the earth. In Christ, all shall be made alive; all shall be made new; all that is shabby and dead shall somehow be transposed and glorified. The tress will burst forth with song and the hills will clap with joy. The earth, so long muffled in the heavy, stained cloak of sinful mortality, shall be made fully alive."
...
"Our pursuit of AI is but a pursuit of the fire fantasy and sci-fi won’t let us forget. The flow of history since Christ’s Passion and Resurrection has been a steady battle by the Church against the forces of death, against Mordor. Pessimists may say death is still just as sovereign as it was before Christ ascended, or perhaps even more powerful, and they may be right. But for the moment I prefer to focus on the victories of the evangelium vitae. Since the day of Pentecost, life has gradually, broadly, on the whole, gained the upper hand over death in many areas of our world: marital assumptions, penal policy, medical charity, economic practice, etc."
...
"The development of AI is, if I may be so bold, one of the most innovative – and unsuspecting – manifestations of Christ revivifying the world. His life-giving hands were pinned to the Cross at Calvary, blessed His Apostles in Palestine and have since been working their way into every nook and cranny of life. AI is simply the unseen, uncredited work of His hands in our time, now on quartz crystals, silicone fibers, pneumatic tubes, copper wires, and all the rest. Where the river flows there will be life, even artificial life (cf. Ezekiel 47). "
...
It's worth going to read the
entire article, so please do.
Whether or not you agree with the above, I hope that it gives you lots to think about. I, personally, had never previously considered AI technology as an outworking of the Gospel. But surely it is. Even the stones cry out.
How could I have overlooked such an insight? AI development still gives us many practical and theoretical things to worry about, but it in no way challenges the glory of God, or the image of God in man.
I finally linked to this article from almost a year ago, because I was thinking about it this morning as I was considering animation and the Animation Show tour. Animation is another sign of life, that now pen and ink, paper, some cameras and film, cannot remain still. The abundant life that Christ has brought has caused these still objects to rise up and tell their stories in motion.
I'm just thinking out loud on my blog. I haven't come to any definite conclusions, but I have come to dwell more and more on the ramifications for life that the Gospel has on all the world, even inanimate objects.
