Life Matters - November 13, 2024
Whatever else he may be, or not be, Elon Musk has proven himself to be a businessman par excellence. He has excelled in the production of battery-powered vehicles, in the launching and use of satellites, in space exploration, including the launching, re-landing, and reuse of spaceships. He has excelled in all present things digital and has now produced a near-autonomous robot. One he calls Optimus, which, he says, is well on its way to autonomy and mass production. When showing it at the WE Festival (a gathering show of digital innovations) Mr. Musk arrived at the WE venue in a car so endowed with artificial intelligence that it was built without hand or foot controls, including no steering wheel.
Where is this going? According to Musk it is entirely conceivable that we may see a future when every job on the planet can be done more efficiently by a robot than by a human. I assume that efficiency standard also applies to the building of more robots as the old ones wear out.
It is with hateful dread that I’ve been turning my face away from this subject, but as I don’t ‘’live under a rock,’’ this new threat to a stable future keeps getting ‘’shoved in my face.’’ So let’s face it, the future looks more like a Star Wars movie than this old-timer cares to admit. There was a time, a little while ago, when I was a teenager. One whose daydreams were more captivated by all things manly than those of a soft, easy nature. Nor of galactic wars. The irony of Elon Musk is that he himself does not live a soft and easy life, as in upper echelon American culture standards, even as he pursues—as if driven—ways to make life easier.
If given a choice as a young teenager I would have chosen to live in the Wild West of early America. At least as dramatized by western novels and history books. The Pony Express was high on my list of fascinations. I wished it was still in operation and was sorely disappointed to learn that it was only in operation for about a year before the rapidly expanding telegraph system took over along with the railroad and its steam-powered locomotives. No, I do not relish the expansion of digital innovation sticking its digital nose, eyes, ears, and tongue over the ever-shrinking horizon.
There was a time when a good horse was the fastest mode of transportation. Unless we factor in the prophet Elijah wanting to beat a rainstorm! (1 Kings chapter 19) Though I expect his running ahead of Ahab’s chariot was a supernatural accomplishment as the race from Mt. Carmel to Jezreel was approximately 19 miles. Or was it not supernatural? The Bible doesn’t say. Whatever it was, we do get the impression of an extremely physically fit prophet outrunning the encroaching storm before the dirt road turned to mud. Elijah made it to Jezreel ahead of the storm, and not only ahead of the storm, Elijah also arrived at Jezreel ahead of King Ahab’s horse-powered chariot, likely powered by two well-conditioned war-horses. Elijah must have been the definition of masculinity, a physically fit prophet with the stamina of a horse. He was not an obese couch-potato type that God suddenly empowered to run (or is the word waddle?) ahead of Ahab’s physically fit horses. He was a physically fit, spiritually fit man. A real man.
Physical endowments vary and decline with age, ailments, or accidents…but God…but God has made a way for our physical decline to be accompanied by a spiritual strengthening, by a spiritual awakening first if need be, after all, none of us are here to stay. God has given to men the responsibility of home-leadership roles and that responsibility does not go away with physical decline unless, of course, that decline includes the brain, and with it, the loss of proper reasoning skills.
Men need a proper relationship with God, which includes common sense, to lead their homes properly. A proper function that the devil constantly attempts to undermine.
The 20th century feminist movement (I’ll take a long shot into the past here) may have had some good points at its outset but its ‘’muscle’’ soon maxed out and morphed into an anti-masculine movement where men became ‘’the enemy’’ of female empowerment and therefore needed pulled down and weakened. Many men allowed the weakening to happen. (For temporary personal gain?) God bless the gentlemen who didn’t give in and God bless the ladies who stayed feminine. Real men, and real ladies, know how to ‘’get the job done’’ in their respective roles. May we all be so as we face the next threat ‘’coming down the pike.’’
The Pandora’s box of artificial intelligence (AI) has been opened and Mr. Musk believes it can no longer be shut down; therefore his goal is to develop ‘’good’’ robots to stay ahead of the ‘’bad’’ ones. I can understand Elon’s point although I believe it will pose a new, not yet fully understood, threat to masculine and feminine, mankind. We cannot escape the God-created reality that muscles, including our brains, need exercise to stay physically fit. Elon, though at the cusp of AI development, has some warnings of his own about the future threats of AI.
Let us, as in Hebrews 5:14, keep our ‘’senses exercised to discern both good and evil.’’ Body muscles, brains, and spiritual senses need exercise to retain their vitality and good health. We do, and shall, need stamina for the long run.
Life Matters!