Most people are unaware of how much the world is going to change over the next two decades. We’re approaching the emergence of several scientific revolutions that, when fully blossomed, will converge with each other and dramatically alter human history.
This year, Elisha’s Riddle is going to take a closer look at these innovations and then attempt to bring a Kingdom perspective into the equation. We’ll look at where God is in the midst of these things and what the role of the church is in such a wildly changing landscape. Ultimately, we’ll build an argument that we’re in the midst of a new renaissance that will have a few similarities to the last one.
The Renaissance that swept Europe 700 years ago brought about a massive surge of creativity and societal development. It also helped accelerate the reformation of the church. The last Renaissance came on the heels of a major pandemic as well as several geopolitical upheavals. Such things are the birth pangs that come with new epochs of human history. Indeed, the word renaissance means “rebirth.”
These same things we will come about in new ways as this next renaissance sweeps the earth. Once again, we’ll see untold innovation, reformation, and turbulence. With that in mind, we’ll start by giving a brief sketch of what is already at our doorstop. The tendrils of a perfect storm are here and growing, and they will come into maturity over the next decade or so.
Artificial Intelligence & Digital Assistants
- 2022 closed with some big surprises. In December, a new internet search program called ChatGPT took the world by storm as people discovered a new level of “language learning software,” something that has been in development behind the scenes for a number of years. This “Chat Bot” gives extremely intelligent and conversational answers to all kinds of search queries. It is already providing well-written essays in response to college-level questions. This is one of many AI developments over the years that is going to coincide with the emergence of digital assistants…
- In the very near future, programs like Siri and Alexa are going to mature exponentially as they learn to integrate more seamlessly with all the information on the internet as well as the countless features of all the different apps we use. Right now, this is in the baby stage. But in only a few years it will make a jump more dramatic than going from a black and white television set to modern VR headsets. In the near future, people will have digital assistants that will be able to accomplish an immeasurable number of tasks on their behalf. (Note: This is different from “Artificial General Intelligence,” the more common idea from science fiction that involves a completely sentient formed out of software. Nothing out there is even remotely close to such a development.)
Brain Implants
- December 2022 also saw the unveiling of a major breakthrough in the brain implants being developed through Elon Musk’s company Neurolink. The news came with footage of a monkey controlling a keyboard through his thoughts by way of an implant in the brain. In human beings, these implants will provide support to people with disabilities, helping them move and communicate. The company also believes they will have the ability to restore vision to the blind. This technology is here, and it’s here to stay. Some believe that as this integrates with artificial intelligence, the way will open up for an unimaginable connection between human intelligence and artificial intelligence. They connect it to how sneaker technology enabled human feet to travel further and faster, saying that such innovations will be like sneakers on the brain with the same purpose.
Quantum ComputingÂ
- This is a completely different way of providing processing power in our computers. We won’t go into the details here, but suffice it to say that a quantum processor can compute (solve) a complicated equation that would take our fastest supercomputers millions of year to calculate in only a few minutes. (Read that again, slowly. The implications are wild.) This technology is also in its infancy but has the potential to develop very quickly over the next 20 years. When we merge this ability of quantum computing with electronic implants and AI assistants, it’s unfathomable where things can go from there…
Fusion Technology
- Another insanely significant thing happened in December 2022 which, for the most part, went under the radar. Scientists found a way to get a gain of energy through fusion technology, something that has never happened before. We did an article on fusion only two months, not expecting such a breakthrough to happen this soon. Fusion technology is arguably one of the biggest game changers in history, on par with the agricultural revolution. As it becomes operational in the years ahead, it will all but eliminate the oil and green energy industries. It will produce limitless, clean energy that will provide power to the furthest reaches of the world and enhance the entire infrastructure of the globe. The supply of limitless energy to a world with quantum computing and artificial intelligence seals the deal on how significant this renaissance will be.
Gene-Editing
- We also want to include gene-editing in this discussion. Over the past decade we have entered into incredible territory in our ability to change an organism’s DNA. This development opens the possibility of the eliminating age-old diseases from the human genome. Already there are trial experiments underway, such as the elimination of Lyme’s disease from an entire region of the United States by unleashing a genetically modified organism into a certain ecosystem where Lyme’s is prevalent. (If this weirds you out, please understand we have been gene-editing species for a long time. For example, your dog is a gene-edited organism. The only difference is that your dog came by humans manipulating genes over a slow horse-and-buggy-like method that took several generations. This accelerates things by allowing the same modifications to take place quicker.)
Kingdom Perspectives
Many Christians feel a sense of alarm when they hear about innovations like these. But we will find that God is much more involved in these areas than we realize. For instance, one of the most drastic technological revolutions in history (which also came in the midst of the Renaissance) was the invention of the printing press. This world-changing technology was inaugurated with Scripture. This is old news now, and most Christians are very thankful that such a breakthrough occurred, but you have to understand that a majority of Christian leaders at the time felt very threatened and concerned by this. They felt this technology gave too much power to the common person, and that the Word of God would be mishandled through this newfangled gadget. (It certainly can!)
But God’s hand is at work in the creations and discoveries of humanity, and we need to remember this as we navigate the uncharted waters ahead. Even the moon landing is worth a mention here, as most people are unaware of how that revolutionary event was inaugurated with communion. Yes, the astronauts took communion on the moon, acknowledging the presence of God even as science and mathematics (two God-given gifts) took us beyond our outer atmosphere and made the human race a space-faring species. In these giant leaps for mankind, God has been intricately present.
Of course, the enemy is involved as well. He is always sowing tares into the wheat God is planting. But like Jesus said, we don’t want to risk pulling out the wheat in our efforts to stop the enemy (see Matthew 13:24-43). Jesus is comfortable with letting the wheat and the tares grow together for a season. The tares in our situation could get pretty ugly: unimaginable state surveillance, ungodly gene-editing, new oligarchs that hoard fusion power . . . but the wheat is still there in the midst of these concerns.
In the months ahead we will look at the good, the bad, and the ugly. We’ll find that the hope of Christ in us is still at the center of this issue. He is the Answer to this great riddle of technological disruption and societal birth pangs. He is the Renaissance within us. And there is nothing but hope ahead.