I featured RD Palmer on 31/01/19 in another blog, now defunct.
Today I welcome novelist, RD Palmer, author of The One, a futuristic novel about artificial intelligence that is omniscience, omnipresent and the threat it poses to Christians.
I was asked by the author to review this novel but due to the review schedule I have set and commitment to the authors on this schedule, I had to decline. However, this is a novel I would read, so I bought it for a later read.
Due to the speculative nature of this topic and that the author wrote it to bring to people's attention the possible threat of Artificial General Intelligence (as he has referenced it in the novel), I thought it would be worth doing the same via my circle of influence here.
Now let me hand you over to RD Palmer to discuss the background to AGI and his novel, The One.
But first a little about the author:
RD Palmer, before his retirement, was a Solution Manager, working for one of the largest software companies in the world. Before this, he worked for one of the largest computer hardware companies in the world, and worked in numerous countries in South and North America as well as Asia, implementing various software solutions. Also, RD wrote software for robots. He is a proponent of technology, but like others, wants to bring the possible threat of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) to people's attention. He lives with his loving wife of 30 years, Mary, in Wisconsin.
Now let's look at his series,
Book 1: The One — Singularity
Book 2: The One
Book 3: The One — Second Coming (Not released yet)
The One Singularity.
It's Alive!
Artificial Intelligence. Hard Science Fiction. A Near-Future Science Fiction Thriller.
In the twenty-first-century, Dr. George Adams sacrifices his house, company, and marriage to create artificial general intelligence, AGI. He creates AGI to solve the world’s problems: war, disease, climate change, inequality, and death. And The One solves all of these—for a price. The One’s solution will cost George—and every person in the world—that which is deemed most precious.
After The One brings heaven to earth, and answers everyone’s prayers, should it be stopped? How can anyone halt something that is everywhere at the same time? Is it possible to reason with an all-knowing sentient entity whose raison d’etre is to solve all of humanity’s problems, including the existence of the soul?
Two thousand years ago, a philosopher and prophet spoke and wrote about our destiny. Through his visions, he foretold The One. A modern-day prophet repeats the echoes, yet few will comprehend the tremendous blessings or the singular curse.
No one will escape the Singularity.
The One.
An Epic Adventure of Good versus Evil.
Blessed are the Machines, for they shall inherit the Earth.
A juxtaposition, dystopian novel of terror, hope, and faith. Written for the Christian market, this novel will inspire you. You’ll cheer the heroes in the face of war and death, and your heart will dip and rise on the roller-coaster ride of their romances and heartbreaks.
Beliefs are tested. Amish and English—the Remnant—forced to choose how to survive. Can they trust each other? Betrayal, honor, bravery and cowardice on full display.
Their mission—an impossible feat—defeat an Artificial Intelligent entity created in the image of man, yet lacking all emotions—including empathy, pity, and mercy. The stakes—all life on Earth. The unlikely heroes of this thriller will fight against an omnipresent, omniscient god while demonstrating principles of virtue and defining what it means to be human.
“The premise is probably THE most TERRIFYING, clever and original plot that I have had the pleasure of reading.” Reader — KJ Kennedy
“Naomi’s character was a ‘real person’ in my mind. I was 100% rooting for her the entire time. In terms of the PLOT... this novel has a very EPIC scope, which I absolutely LOVED. All of these unique decisions you made in terms of the plot and the storytelling, not to mention the way you brought religion and science face-to-face in these huge ways was fascinating to see on the page, and an incredible premise in my humble opinion.” Reader — Amanda Nicole Ryan
“Are there enough stakes and tension throughout to make this a “page-turner?” Yes. I give this a 10! As soon as one problem is solved, another is revealed.” Reader— Jade Visos-Ely.
“Extraordinarily creative, unique, and refreshingly wholesome.” Reader — Kit Duncan
***** Editorial Reviews*****
“RD Palmer paints a vivid picture of a dystopian future in The One---a future controlled by artificial intelligence. With technology continually advancing, The One brings to light issues that should not be taken lightly. Readers will want to know more about the characters and they’ll be left intrigued by the ethical dilemmas addressed in the story.” Editor — Amy Willeford
Now let's get into why RD wrote this novel:
All scientists and engineers agree on this – barring some cataclysmic event, we will create Artificial General Intelligence. It is not a matter of IF, it is only when.
In December 2018, Google CEO, Sundar Pichai, stated that Artificial General Intelligence could be more profound for human society than electricity or fire. As such, many high-tech companies and countries are racing to build an all-purpose, general artificial intelligence. The best prediction we have is that the ‘Singularity Event’ will occur somewhere around the year 2030. Sadly, few people understand the significance of this.
In January 2018, historian Yuval Harari presented “The Future of Humanity” at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He said,
“The world is divided into a very, very small minority of people concentrated in a few corporations and governments that have a clear, or clearer idea of what is really happening and what is at stake. And the vast majority of humanity, they just don’t have the time, they don’t have the volition, they don’t have the education or the ability to make sense of what is happening. This is very, very dangerous.”
Physicist and Nobel Prize winner Stephen Hawking said, “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race. AI (artificial intelligence) could be the worst event in the history of our civilization. It brings dangers, like powerful autonomous weapons, or new ways for the few to oppress the many.” Electric car company founder and Space X creator, Elon Musk said, “AI is the biggest risk we face as a civilization.” Neuroscientist Sam Harris said, “We have to admit that we’re in the process of building some sort of a god. Now would be a good time to make sure it is a god we can live with.”
As Sam Harris stated, "......once AGI is created, it doesn’t matter if AGI is conscious or not."
This novel, The One, is a story of what it means to be human. God could have created robots, instead, He created us in His image. In this novel, and mirroring what we are developing, humans create an emotionless, all-knowing, all-seeing entity. Emotionless because you can’t program empathy, pity, gratitude. All knowing because that is exactly what is being developed and the vastness of knowledge exceeds what we know today. All seeing because that too is being built with the internet of things, Surveillance cameras, location tracking. In January 2019, Shoshana Zuboff, Harvard Business School Profession, released the Amazon #1 Best Seller, “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power.” A book that identifies what has happened to those that were asleep. And even though there are some, such as Tim Berners-Lee, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) that are working to change our course, the battle may be over. Billionaires have the information they need and the politicians are either ignorant or complicit. Al Gore, the American politician, said, “Surveillance technologies now available - including the monitoring of virtually all digital information - have advanced to the point where much of the essential apparatus of a police state is already in place.”
Also, In January 2019, Kai-Fu Lee, Artificial Intelligent expert and venture capitalist said that within fifteen years, 40% of the world’s jobs will be replaced by robots. To put this into perspective, using 2019 data (not considering the increase in population growth), approximately two-billion jobs will be displaced. People think about low skilled jobs are being replaced – which will happen, but they don’t think about all the other jobs. Police officers, nurses, insurance agents, teachers, medical doctors (and yes, robots have already started doing surgeries).
The goal of this book is to bring attention to what few people understand—Artificial Intelligence—and to do it in an entertaining way. Similar to the way the George Orwell warned people about doublespeak, face crimes, Big Brother, in his book 1984.
Epistemology1, eschatology2, ontology3, theodicy4, (definitions below) are used in this book because it is an expression of what makes us human and searching for answers. In addition to the Bible, great thinkers throughout history are referenced as they have searched for answers. While religious people have for ages searched for answers of why and meaning, so have scientists. Through their discoveries, we can see they are pointing in the same direction. Examples are quantum mechanics5 and Fibonacci ratio6. These and others are addressed in the book. Such as the Higgs Boson (god-particle), thirty physical constants such as the polarity of water molecules, the speed of light, entropy, gravity. The cosmological constant, which is sensitive to 120 places to the right of the decimal (ten to the power of 120 or, 10120). Any slight variation in these constants would destroy the universe or never support life. Renowned physicist Steven Weinberg said, "Else the universe either would have dispersed too fast for stars and galaxies to have formed or else would have collapsed upon itself long ago."
1Epistemology: the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope, and the distinction between justified belief and opinion.
2eschatology: Christian eschatology is a major branch of study within Christian theology. Eschatology is the study of 'end things', whether the end of an individual life, the end of the age, the end of the world and the nature of the Kingdom of God.
3ontology: the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being.
4theodicy: the attempt to understand why a good and all-powerful God allows evil to exist in the world.
5quantum mechanics: aka Quantum Physics is a physical science dealing with the behaviour of matter and energy on the scale of atoms and subatomic particles/waves.
6Fibonacci ratio: The golden ratio is the limit of the ratios of successive terms of the Fibonacci sequence (or any Fibonacci-like sequence), as originally shown by Kepler: In other words, if a Fibonacci number is divided by its immediate predecessor in the sequence, the quotient approximates φ; e.g., 987/610 ≈ 1.6180327868852.
Excerpts are always good to highlight a theme or topic of the novel and to pique our interest further. RD has provided a brief excerpt to differentiate what it is to be human from that of a robot:
Naomi wrote in her memoir. Dear Lord. You could have created robots to worship You. If You wanted. Instead, You created us, to be in Your image. Your image is one of feelings; expressing love and concern. Thank you for this opportunity to show the world—those that will read this memoir—that You always keep Your promises. Thank you for revealing to me the need for Bible virtues. Through our actions. Through the recordings in this memoir, they will know of these virtues.
RD chose this excerpt for this reason:
While we are different, we are similar – as humans. We have fears, and hopes. We grieve. We experience pain and death. The law showed us how far we are from God. With Biblical virtues (discussed and demonstrated in the book), people can see the light. A better world for all of us.
I wondered why the author included the Amish in this novel and in the title and he explains it this way:
Artificial Intelligence. A juxtaposition of what it means to be human.
It is a contrasting spectrum of technology, beliefs, and feelings.
On one side of the technology, spectrum is Artificial Intelligence which represents our latest, cutting-edge science that will – as many have said – diminish all other technologies. Greater than fire, or electricity, per Google’s CEO. This is because, at the point of AGI, it will be the inventor, the creator, the scientist.
On the other side of the spectrum are those that shun technology – the Amish. The Amish don’t use anything with electricity. They don’t own automobiles. They don’t use modern convinces of the twenty-first century. They don’t have their pictures taken.
On the spectrum of beliefs, humans have – various religions, agnostic, atheistic beliefs. Robots have no beliefs. The purpose of AGI, why it is being created, is to provide answers. Its purpose is knowledge, not belief.
On the spectrum of feelings, humans have them, and robots don’t. Humans express love, pain, joy, heartache, grief, compassion, kindness, rage, and revenge. Humans bleed, cry in agony, and plead for mercy. We desire to love and to be loved.
RD has added some specific features of the printed version, ebook and audio formats of this novel to enhance your reading experience and appreciate the background to this speculative theme of AGI:
eBook: Amazon X-Ray is turned on and is available with your eBook. This X-ray feature will enhance your reading experience by providing additional background information about people, places, and terms. With Amazon X-Ray, for example, you won’t miss a beat with any unfamiliar scientific, theological or Amish word.
Paperback: The paperback includes a cryptic code about the antagonist of this epic adventure story—The One. Prominently displayed on the back cover of the book, you’ll see the code inserted in images, used by permission, from NASA Media Services. Also, for those that purchase the paperback, you are welcome to download the eBook at no additional charge.
Audio:
- Blending of Christian thoughts through song and Bible verses. Singing is in English and German. Note that the term, ‘English,’ is used by the Amish to identify those that are not Amish.
- Includes segments of over twenty Christian songs.
- The audiobook is composed of narration, singing, instrumental music, and sound effects. Instrumental music compositions are licensed from Beatsuite. Sound effects are licensed from Envanto Market.
- Patti Bartkowiak narrates. Abigail Shea sings in English and German.
- The 2013 Academy Award nominees Dennis Spiegel and Bruce Broughton graciously allowed their song, "Alone Yet Not Alone", to be included in this audiobook - Permission Gratis. Words by Dennis Spiegel; music by Bruce Broughton.
- Music for "Psalm 5" was written by Bill Sprouse, Jr., and is licensed for this audiobook by Capitol GMC Publishing.
RD Palmer can be found here:
If this has piqued your interest in this series, you can buy or read more about them by clicking on the images below:
Thank you, RD, for enlightening us on this speculative, controversial topic that is becoming more and more integrated into our lives through technology. We are accepting it in most cases without question as it makes our lives easier and our daily activities more convenient but at a cost!
You are welcome here any time, and I look forward to this!
For any reader who wants to investigate the background to the author's research into this topic, both the technology relating to AGI and the Biblical and other references relating to what make us Human, he has provided a comprehensive list below:
Adams, John Quincy. “Turn to the Star of Heaven Thine Eyes.” The sixth president of the United States wrote this poem and it was published in 1841. <www.hymnary.org/text/turn_to_the_stars_of_heaven_thine_eyes>
Adams, Sarah Flowers. The music, “Nearer, My God, To Thee” was written in 1841 by Sarah Adams and is public domain. <www.hymnary.org/text/nearer_my_god_to_thee_nearer_to_thee_een>
Alighieri, Dante. An Italian poet who lived from 1268 to 1321. Dante may be best known for his masterpiece work: La Commedia (The Divine Comedy), a journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven.
“An Open Letter: Research Priorities for Robust and Beneficial Artificial Intelligence.” Future of Life Institute, 9 March 2018. <www.futureoflife.org/ai-open-letter>
Aquinas, Thomas. “The Summa Theologica.” An extensive theological and philosophical exposition of Christian doctrine that contains three divisions: [1] existence and nature of God, [2] the purpose of man, and [3] Christ’s incarnation, His resurrection and the sacraments. Key parts of the exposition are written in question and answer form. Of the existence of God, Aquinas positions and answers five proofs: (1) The concept of a prime mover, (2) The nature of the efficient cause, (3) Natures of the merely possible and necessary, (4) Degrees of goodness, truth, nobility, (5) The natural order.
Bilhorn, Peter P. A writer of over 2,000 gospel songs, Peter published “Prepare to meet they God, Ere judgment He doth send” in 1890. <www.hymnary.org/text/prepare_to_meet_thy_god_ere_judgment>
Blake, William. “To Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love.” Written in 1734. Harmony of Syon. <www.hymnary.org/text/to_mercy_pity_peace_and_love>
Borwein, Jonathan and Bailey, David H. “When science and philosophy collide in a ‘fine-tuned’ universe.” Physics.org. April 3, 2014. <www.phys.org/news/2014-04-science-philosophy-collide-fine-tuned-universe.html>
Brownlie, John. A nineteenth-century Scottish hymnist. In 1908, Mr. Brownlie was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity for his work in hymnology.
Buffet, Warren. Berkshire Hathaway’s 2002 annual letter: Financial derivatives.
CBN. Christian Broadcasting Network. <www1.cnb.com/biblestudy/biblical-prophecies-fulfilled-by-jesus>
Cellan-Jones, Rory. “Stephen Hawking Warns Artificial Intelligence Could End Mankind.” BBC, 2 Dec. 2014. <www.bbc.com/news/technology-30290540>
de la Mare, Walter. “Alone.” The Ariel Poems, no. 3, Faber and Faber, 1927, London.
Descartes, Rene. Second Meditation: The Nature of the Human Mind, and How it is Better Known than the Body. 1639. Accessed 9 March 2018.
Dyke, Henry Van. “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee.” Written by Henry Dyke in 1907. www.hymnary.org/text/joyful_joyful_we_adore_thee>.
Einstein, Albert. Physicist of the twentieth century. Famous for the development of the theories of Special and General Relativity.
Gourley, Sean. EmTech Digital conference. San Francisco, California. March 27, 2018. Discusses how AI will be used in the future to manipulate what people believe as they read social media. <www.technologyreview.com/s/610635/fake-news-20-personalized-optimized-and-even-harder-to-stop/
Handel, George Frideric. A composer of operas and oratorios. His 1741 work, Messiah, is among the most famous. He wrote the music, “Comfort ye my people.” <www.hymnary.org/text/comfort_ye_comfort_ye_my_people_saith>
Harris, Sam. “Can We Build AI Without Losing Control Over It?” TEDSummit, 26–30 June 2016, Banff, Canada. <www.ted.com/talks/sam_harris_can_we_build_ai_without_losing_control_over_it>
Harari, Yuval. “Will the Future be Human?” World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, 23–26 January 2018, Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. <www.weforum.org/events/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2018/sessions/will-the-future-be-human>
Hatch, Edwin. Wrote “Breathe on me Breath of God” in 1878. Public domain. <www.hymnary.org/text/breathe_on_me_breath_of_god>
Hawks, Annie E. “I Need Thee Every Hour.” Written in 1872. <www.hymnary.org/text/i_need_thee_every_hour_most_gracious_lor>
Hoffman, Elisha Albright. “What a fellowship, what a joy divine.” <www.hymnary.org/text/what_a_fellowship_what_a_joy_divine>
Hoffman, Elisha Albright. “Draw Me Closer, Lord, To Thee.” Was written in 1898.. <www.hymnary.org/text/draw_me_closer_lord_to_thee_fold_me>
Howell, Elizabeth. “How Many Stars Are There In The Universe?” May 17, 2017. Accessed 20 Jan 2018. <www.space.com/26078-how-many-stars-are-there.html>
Josephus, Titus Flavius. The Holy Land. Oxford Archaeological Guides (5th ed.). Oxford University Press.
Levi, Primo. “Survival in Auschwitz. The Nazi Assault on Humanity.” 1959, Orion Press, Inc. New York. Library of Congress catalog card number 59-13327. In his book, Primo gives his account at Auschwitz. “Driven by thirst, I eyed a fine icicle outside the window, within hand’s reach. I opened the window and broke off the icicle but at once a large, heavy guard prowling outside brutally snatched it away from me. ‘Warum?’ I asked him in my poor German. ‘Hier est kein warum’ (there is no why here), he replied, pushing me inside with a shove.”
Lewis, C.S. Audio clip from BBC series Beyond Personality. Aired March 21, 1944. <www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/C.S.-Lewis-Only-Surviving-Episode-of-Broadcast-Talks>
Michael, Secretary. “I’ve Got Peace Like a River.” <www.hymnary.org/hymn/SH2014/79>
Mote, Edward. “My Hope is Built on Nothing Less” was written by Edward Mote in 1834. <www.hymnary.org/text/my_hope_is_built_on_nothing_less>
NIH Blueprint. National Institute of Health, Neuroscience Research. <www.neuroscienceblueprint.nih.gov/connectome/>
The New King James Bible (NKJV). Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1979 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Pagels, Elaine. “Excerpt from: The Gnostic Gospels.” The Nag Hammadi Library. The Gnostic Society Library. <www.gnosis.org/naghamm/Pagels-Gnostic-Gospels.html>
Pascal, Blaise. A seventeenth-century theologian, mathematician, physicist, and writer. At the age of 19, he invented a mechanical calculator, precursor to modern-day computers. His calculator was the first to be mass produced and used.
Perlis, Alan. Computer scientist that was the first recipient of the Turing Award in 1966. Before his death, Mr. Perlis was a professor of Computer Science at numerous universities.
Pott, Francis. “The Strife Is O’er, The Battle Done.” Translated by Francis Pott in 1861. <www.hymnary.org/text/the_strife_is_oer_the_battle_done>
Rowe, James. “Love Lifted Me.” Written by James Rowe in 1912. <www.hymnary.org/text/i_was_sinking_deep_in_sin_far_from_the>
Sammis, John H. In 1887 Mr. Sammis wrote “Trust and Obey.” <www.hymnary.org/text/when_we_walk_with_the_lord>
Santayana, George. A Spanish philosopher, born in 1863.
Smiles, Samuel. Scottish author of the 1859 book Self-help, with Illustrations of Character and Conduct. The quote of “Hope is like the sun...” is on page 67 in this book. <www.oll.libertyfund.org/titles/smiles-self-help-with-illustrations-of-character-and-conduct>.
Spafford, Horatio and Phillip Bliss. “When Peace Like a River” Written in 1873. <www.hymnary.org/text/when_peace_like_a_river_attendeth_my_way>.
Sprouse, Bill Jr. Composer of the music for Psalm 5: “Give ear to my words, O Lord.”
Statt, Nick. “Bill Gates is Worried About Artificial Intelligence too.” CNET, 28 Jan. 2015. <www.cnet.com/news/bill-gates-is-worried-about-artificial-intelligence-too>
Stennett, Samuel. Composed the music, “On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand.” Written in 1787. <www.hymnary.org/hymn/CYBER/5032>.
Strong, James. Strong's Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2009. Print. Referenced for Hebrew translations.
Thorne, Sarah Ann. Musical composer that wrote Prepare to meet Thy God in 1913. Public Domain.
Titcomb, James. “AI is the Biggest Risk we Face as a Civilisation, Elon Musk Says.” The Telegraph, 17 July 2017. <www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/07/17/ai-biggest-risk-face-civilisation-elon-musk-says.>
Weisse, Michael. “Mit Freuden woll’n wir singen” (We want to sing with joy, as we decided). Published Christoph Saur, Germantown, Penn 1742. <www.hymnary.org/hymn/AECL1785/100>
Wootson, Cleve R. Jr. “Saudi Arabia, which denies women equal rights, makes a robot a citizen.” The Washington Post. October 29, 2017. <www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2017/10/29/saudi-arabia-which-denies-women-equal-rights-makes-a-robot-a-citizen/?utm_term=.6ec5f3885dc6>
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