Joining Together
This presentation invites technologists, philanthropists, and community organizers to partner with the Mormon Transhumanist Association in shaping the social and cultural context emerging from artificial intelligence. The speaker argues that AI algorithms could be designed to facilitate collaboration rather than competition, and warns that without intervention, technological advancement will exponentially increase existing societal flaws. Drawing on the MTA’s emphasis on kindness, compassion, and charity as transformational practices of nonviolence, the talk calls for the best innovators to work in the social sphere—addressing economic inequality, bias in AI systems, the digital divide, and the need for human-centered design that values subjective experience over mere profit.
Dorothy Deasy is a Methodist theologian currently pursuing a Master’s of Applied Theology from Merrill Hurst University. Her spiritual journey began later in life with an awakening experience triggered by her study of the historical Jesus. ¶ Deasy’s work explores the intersection of spirituality and technology, particularly examining the nature of religious experience in the context of rapidly advancing biotechnologies. She questions whether electronically or pharmacologically induced religious experiences hold the same value and significance as traditional spiritual engagement, emphasizing that true spirituality involves the incorporation of insights from peak experiences into daily life—a call to action and interconnectedness. ¶ Deasy posits that neuroscience, with discoveries like mirror neurons, increasingly supports the idea that empathy and sociability are fundamental aspects of human development. She argues against the dualistic separation of science and religion, suggesting that understanding the biological mechanisms behind transcendent experiences does not negate their profound meaning. Her research bridges the gap between scientific understanding and spiritual experience, relevant in an age where humanity has the potential to alter the human body and influence the very triggers of life.
Transcript
You can feel it, can’t you? That’s anticipation. It’s in the air, and it’s as palpable as our heartbeats. It’s the tension of curiosity contained, like a child in school those last few days before summer break. Or, like being able to see the rocket on the launch pad and waiting for the countdown to begin. Yeah, we walk outside, we’re in the park, we’re on the street, and we might get a little bit distracted sitting here listening to talks. But then we touch the app, we finger the wearable, we see the drone, we can sense the very neurons in our brains lighting up, and we again feel that anticipation. It’s what comes before the thunderclap, before the cloud burst. And in the time to come, people will reflect on these as the before days, before the convergence of emerging technologies ruptured the very time line of human history.
Each day we’re witness to changes in medicine and diet, travel and communication, even our biology, even what we know or believe about death. In blogs and seminars, conferences and social media, we talk about the technologies, now too numerous to name. Under the umbrellas of biotech, nanotech, robotics, and AI.
What’s less a part of the discussion is how this progression of technology is influencing our families, our communities, our economies, and our world. Even as we focus on the emergence of machine intelligence, perhaps super intelligence, what needs greater attention Is the amniotic fluid from which all intelligence springs the music, the art, the nurturing and the guidance The love and culture and mythology which gives birth to ideas, to growth, to maturity, and to wisdom.
Currently, there’s a lot of talk about super intelligence and killer robots, which I believe prematurely elevates AI to the status of human or superhuman. A more immediate concern is AI suggesting that the only viable business and possibly social structure is one based on competition.
Did you see that video that’s been going around of the little robot that upon losing a video game exclaims bloody hell! It was cute, yeah. Uh but step back a moment, and it’s a little bit chilling. Might we not be better served? had the robot responded. Well done. How can I do that? AI algorithms could be designed to look for and facilitate collaboration. And if we’re looking for a beneficent future, we ought to be looking at that today.
Today I’m asking all of you here And I’m asking Elon Musk, Melinda Gates, Larry Page, Cheryl Sandberg, Ben Goetzel. And all of you who are tech innovators and developers, community organizers and philanthropists, partner with us.
Karl RVP described the Mormon Transhumanist Association as a non-profit dedicated to improving human lives through the charitable use of science and technology. We also try to increase awareness of the risks and opportunities presented by accelerating technological change and to build bridges between secular and religious audiences. We want to get people of radically different backgrounds to talk to each other and to communicate better. We also have humanitarian projects trying to help bridge the digital divide in Africa and India. We’re one of the most active transhumanist organizations in the world, and we’re the largest organization of religious transhumanists.
Personally, I’m not an engineer, nor do I have a background in computer science, and so I can’t speak to the technical aspects of AI. I leave that debate to others. My concern comes from that of a spiritual transhumanist and a human-centered design perspective. You’re needed just as much to help influence the social and cultural context that is developing as a result of AI.
A lot of talk these days about artificial intelligence is hype, some of it is alarmism, some of it is opportunism. The fact is, though, that artificial intelligence is already here. Its influence is growing both in terms of practical applications and in the development of the algorithms. The field is widening as well, with different types of approaches and computing being applied, such as deep learning, quantum computing, neurocomputing, etc. Like genetic engineering and nanotechnology, those other technologies under the transhuman umbrella, AI is already a part of our context.
What is changing? is that the development is more robust, the rate of change is quickening, and we are increasingly moving from specific AI that lives simply in discrete functionality to artificial general intelligence, which will be interacting with evermore increasing aspects of society and with other AI.
AI specifically, and the technological tsunami that is the second machine age more generally, is changing the human landscape. It’s rewriting the human story even as its own code becomes clarified and more refined. Focusing on the technology alone is only half the equation. We as a species are beginning to innovate more quickly than our cultures adapt. We need the great innovators and great care providers to be working on social concerns as well as technological. What AI is doing now and will continue to do, without intervention, is to create an exponential increase in existing societal flaws.
And that is why you should join the Mormon Transhumanist Association. It may sound audacious, maybe perhaps even a little ridiculous. After all, Mormon transhumanism sounds pretty fringe even among Mormons. But you don’t need to be a Mormon, nor even religious, to join. I’m not a Mormon. And every time I’m tempted to think about becoming one, after every conference. I look at the role of women in the church, and I know that it wouldn’t be a good fit for either my personality or my spiritual journey. But the Mormon Transhumanist Association is not the Mormon Church. It isn’t to say that we aren’t Mormon, we are. We live from the heart and soul of Mormonism. We are informed by the spirit of the culture which emphasizes kindness, respect, self discipline, compassion, and charity. We are concerned with the transfiguration of our society.
And transfiguration is a key term at this particular point in history We are asking ourselves and others if we want a world to continue as it is, based on the self-actualization of the few or if we want to tilt the trajectory of human history toward greater abundance and community actualization.
This approach to social engagement, kindness, respect, self discipline, compassion, and charity is more than good manners. It is the practice of nonviolence in every sphere, from the personal through the global. It is also transformational because most social systems such as economics, security, health, and agriculture, and some would say religion, are currently based on systems of oppression and exploitation, usually, I believe, as unintended consequences. To assume that society can be reoriented towards kindness, respect, self-discipline, compassion, and charity is not utopian. Mormonism embodies these practices in communities all over the globe. I am not suggesting global conversion. Rather, I am suggesting that our understanding of communities of peaceful coexistence Can be a positive influence within transhumanism and can be applied to any religion or no religion.
The MTA has within our membership people who are Mormon and non-Mormon, male and female, conservative and progressive, gay and straight. We practice our Christianity without preaching. So I say again, join us.
The book, The Second Machine Age, detailed the economic shift that is global and is already well underway, after citing that quote The top one percent earned over 65 percent of income in the US between 2002 and 2007. Eric Bernalsson and Andrew McAfee go on to say, The primary driver of growing inequality is exponential digital and combinatorial change in the technology that undergirds our economic systems. In some cases, the gains have been concentrated among a relatively small group of winners leaving the majority of people worse off than before. This economic disruption that we’re already witnessing is the result of most industries becoming technology industries. and the reduction in the number and types of labor that that creates. It’s not exclusively the result of AI, but AI is likely to exacerbate problems. As AI moves further and further into our societies, the unintended consequences are likely to expand.
We need the best innovators, developers and philanthropists to be working in the social sphere, moving beyond sharing economy apps to attending to how AI will influence how we frame and address social goals. One of the marks of the transhuman age is evidence based research and designing solutions from root causes rather than symptoms. Medicine is the most obvious example where new ways of addressing cancer treatment have been leveraged because of a better understanding of the root causes. AI is helping with both enabling us to ask different better questions and to find solutions. When it comes to social issues, we might hope that AI could help us tackle and alleviate some entrenched problems like poverty and class inequalities. But the data from which AI will likely draw are based on existing systemic inequalities. If the data are biased The conclusions and recommendations that are derived are likely to also be biased, codifying inequalities rather than addressing them.
We need the best innovators, developers and philanthropists to be working in the social sphere to attend to how AI will influence human to human interactions. While the combining of robotics and AI to replace many service sector jobs has a clear cost to deliver service benefit, how will it influence the overall health and belonging of the people served? Will widespread AI lead to a devaluing of human achievement? Will the easy access of fantasy technology, combined with fewer human interactions, lead to greater levels of depression and alienation?
We also need the best innovators, developers and philanthropists to be working in the social sphere, designing and teaching AI respect for a broad spectrum of subjective experiences. Much of what is most meaningful to us, such as interactions with loved ones, the experience of beauty, the attachment that develops out of shared adversity They don’t provide data sets, and they’re not themselves quantifiable. While prioritizing wealth and profit may be the goal for business oriented AI, What happens if that becomes the dominant ethic at the expense of the full range of human-centered experiences? In the industrial era, We’ve nearly decimated our ecological resources because they carry no value on a balance sheet other than as monetary inputs. Have we learned from this error, or do humans themselves become the next resource to be consumed?
Put another way, we need the best innovators, developers, and philanthropists to be working in the social sphere. designing AI to support orderly societies, not by emphasizing command and control, but rather by seeking ways to foster nonviolent cooperative models. AI that trickles down into law enforcement from the battlefield will likely see societal unrest through the lens of disobedience and transgression. We need instead design that emphasizes carrots over sticks. And we need the best innovators, developers, and philanthropists to be working in the social sphere.
to address the issue of the digital divide. What we’re seeing unfold is a shift from developed And underdeveloped nations to those with access to resources or those left behind within each nation. How do we ensure that in the coming age of abundance, all are able to share equitably, if not equally?
Finally, we need the best innovators, developers, and philanthropists to be working in the social sphere to root out and rewire the biases already existing within the tech community. So long as the technology is being developed by those with demographic and psychographic biases, AI will not reflect nor be in the service of the broad spectrum of the human family. Change begins with the technology community itself in seeking to better understand those who are different. Having a mix of gender, class, ethnicity Abilities and age in the workplace is a value not simply because the code reflects their perspectives. but because the everyday interactions and serendipities build empathy and improve an ability to see blind spots not apparent when living and working among those with a scared skill set.
The Mormon Transhumanist Association embraces I mean, we love it, my God, embraces emerging technologies We do so because we see them in both economic and spiritual terms. We see emerging technologies as a path forward towards transfiguring our world and ourselves. For that promise to be realized, however, we recognize that working with and within our cultural systems is as important as the technology itself. Join us and help support human flourishing.