KILLER COMPUTERS: Science Fiction anticipates Our Future by Lawrence J. Terlizzese

$12.95 only

• Paperback: 158 pages
• Publisher: Christian Publishing House March 08, 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1-0714-9632-8
• ISBN-13: 9781071496329
• Product Dimensions: 6" x 9"

Book Description

KILLER COMPUTERS is meant to stimulate thinking on the most critical issue of our times, technology, and in particular Artificial Intelligence, which occupies the foremost of our attention. It does this through a common reference: science fiction film. Science fiction does not predict the future, but it does, for better or worse, anticipate it. Killer Computers are a metaphor for when machines, in the not too distant future, are given the power by their creators, to make life and death decisions, especially in a military or Civil Defense context, which will inevitably spill over into medical and judicial realms. The solitary cause for this potential future is the collective resignation to think for ourselves in all things. The Enlightenment principle of Sapere Aude (dare to think for yourself) is being forgotten in favor an Artificial Intelligence that does all our thinking for us. The hope is that through awareness, we will be smart enough not to let that happen, while still enjoying the benefits this technology offers. These essays include a discussion on a theology of culture, On Black Holes and Arch Angels, as well as Grace and Law and case studies on important thinkers that address technological and political worlds, such as Gabriel Marcel and Reinhold Niebuhr. Hope is a predominate theme which is capped by a chapter on New Creation. Wisdom counsels a path through critical participation in the technological system. We must see ourselves as part of the problem and therefore, part of the solution.

Author Biography

Lawrence J. Terlizzese holds a Ph.D. in Theological Studies from Dallas Theological Seminary and has published three books on the pressing issue of faith and technology: Hope in the Thought of Jacques Ellul, Trajectory of the 21st Century and Into the Void. He has taught and several different schools including his alma mater Dallas Theological Seminary as well as Grand Canyon University, Texas Woman’s University and University of Texas-Dallas