Dr. Michael Heiser in ‘REVERSING HERMON’
‘Given that modern Christians are only taught one explanation for human depravity instead of the two that New Testament writers would have embraced, the fact that certain early church fathers acknowledged the role of the Watcher’s transgressions in human depravity is largely unknown. Irenaeus, for example, taught both explanations for the proliferation of sin. D.R. Schultz explains: ‘Irenaeus explicitly states this about the devil, ‘who first became the cause of apostasy to himself and afterwards to others.’ The ‘others’ and first to follow Satan in apostasy are a group of angels who revolted from a state of submission to God. Many passages speak of the apostasy…Irenaeus definitely understands that there exists a causal relationship between Genesis 6:1-4 and the wickedness that follows in Genesis 6:5. Irenaeus has two different descriptions of the angels defiling mankind. One description is concerned with ‘unlawful unions’ of angels with offspring from the daughters of men. This ‘unlawful union’ produces ‘giants’ upon the earth which cause man’s sinfulness; and these giants, which Irenaeus calls the ‘infamous race of men’ who performed fruitless and wicked deeds… According to Irenaeus the other manner in which the angels brought about man’s defilement was through EVIL TEACHINGS.”
Thomas Horn in his book “Cloudeaters” comments on Genesis 6:5-7
‘Oh yeah, and there were GIANTS in the land they had corrupted all flesh. We are talking all flesh here. That means more than just mankind. This also begs the question; How can one pervert the animals? Or trees? How can scientists pervert animals now? Through the genome! Through their DNA. With the use of science, modern man has the ability to corrupt God’s creation in the laboratory – and he does. So just how long had this corruption been going on before God got fed up and decided to lay waste to the planet?”
In 2005 Ray Kurzweil published the book “THE SINGULARITY IS NEAR” subtitled: ‘WHEN HUMANS TRANSCEND BIOLOGY’
At the onset of the 20th century, humanity stands on the verge of the most transforming and thrilling period in its history. It will be an era in which the very nature of what it means to be human will be both enriched and challenged, as our species breaks the shackles of its genetic legacy and achieves inconceivable heights of intelligence, material progress, and longevity. For over three decades, the great inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil has been one of the most respected and provocative advocates of the role of technology in our future. ‘The Age of Spiritual Machines’, he presented the daring argument that with the every-accelerating rate of technological change, computers would rival the full range of human intelligence at its best. Now, in ‘The Singularity is near’, he examines the next step in the inexorable evolutionary process; the union of human and machine, in which the knowledge and skills embedded in our brains will be combined with the vastly greater capacity, speed, and knowledge-sharing ability of our own creations.
That merging is the essence of the Singularity, an era in which our intelligence will become increasingly nonbiological and trillions of times more powerful than it is today – the dawning of a new civilization that will enable us to transcend our biological limitations and amplify our creativity. In this new world, there will be no clear distinction between human and machine, real reality and virtual reality. We will be able to assume different bodies and take on a range of personae at will. In practical terms, human aging and illness will be reversed; pollution will be stopped; world hunger and poverty will be solved. Nanotechnology will make it possible to create virtually any physical product using inexpensive information processes and will ultimately turn even death into a soluble problem. While the social and philosophical ramifications of these changes will be profound, and the threats they pose considerable, ‘The Singularity is Near’ maintains a radically optimistic view of the future course of human development. As such, it offers a view of the coming age that is both a dramatic culmination of centuries of technological ingenuity and a genuinely inspiring vision of our ULTIMATE DESTINY.
www.techtarget.com (written by Andrew Zola, July 15, 2021)
“What is the singularity?
In technology, the singularity describes a hypothetical future where technology growth is out of control and irreversible. These intelligent and powerful technologies will radically and unpredictably transform our reality. The word SINGULARITY has many different meanings, however. It all depends on the context. For example, in natural sciences, singularity describes dynamical systems and social systems where a small change may have an enormous impact.
WHAT IS THE SINGULARITY IN TECHNOLOGY?
Most notably, the singularity would involve computer programs becoming so advanced that artificial intelligence transcends human intelligence, potentially erasing the boundary between humanity and computers. Nano technology is perceived as one of the key technologies that will make singularity a reality. This intelligence explosion will significantly impact human civilization. These computer programs and AI will turn into super-intelligent machines with cognitive capacity beyond human capabilities. To provide a bit of background, John von Neumann, a Hungarian American mathematician, computer scientist, engineer, physicist and polymath, first discussed the concept of technological singularity early in the 20th century. Since then, many authors have either echoed this viewpoint or adapted it in their writings.
These stories were often apocalyptic and described a future where super-intelligence upgrades itself and accelerates development at an incomprehensible rate. This is because machines take over their own development from their human creators, who lack their cognitive capabilities. According to singularity theory, super-intelligence is developed and achieved by self-directed computers. This will occur and increase exponentially, not incrementally. Entrepreneurs and public figures like Elon Musk have expressed concerns over advances in AI leading to human extinction. Significant innovations in genetics, nanotechnology and robotics will lay the foundation for singularity during the first half of the 21st century. There are also discussions about adding super-intelligence capabilities to humans. These include brain-computer interfaces, biological alteration of the brain, brain implants and genetic engineering.
TRANSHUMANISM
Sebastian Anthony “What is Transhumanism” (www.extremetech.com)
“Transhumanism is a cultural and intellectual movement that believes we can, and should, improve the human condition through the use of advanced technologies. One of the core concepts in Transhumanism thinking is life-extension; through genetic engineering, nanotech, cloning, and other emerging technologies, ETERNAL LIFE MAY SOON BE POSSIBLE. Likewise, Transhumanists are interested in the ever-increasing number of technologies that can boost our physical, intellectual, and psychological capabilities beyond what humans are naturally capable of. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), for example, which speeds up reaction times and learning speed by running a very weak electric current through your brain, has already been used by the U.S. military to train snipers. On the more extreme side, Transhumanism deals with the concept of mind uploading (to a computer), and what happens when we finally craft a computer with greater-than-human intelligence (the technological singularity).” Ultimately, a post-singularity world will be unrecognizable. For example, humans could potentially scan their consciousness and store it in a computer. This approach will help humans live eternally as sentient robots or in a virtual world.
Ray Kurzweil is a hardcore transhumanist;
“Evolution moves towards greater complexity, greater elegance, greater knowledge, greater intelligence, greater beauty, greater creativity, and greater levels of subtle attributes such as love. In every monotheistic tradition God is likewise described as all of these qualities, only without limitation; infinite knowledge, infinite intelligence, infinite beauty, infinite creativity, infinite love. Of course, even the accelerating growth of evolution never achieves an infinite level, but as it explodes exponentially it certainly moves rapidly in that direction. So, evolution moves inexorably towards this CONCEPTION OF GOD, although never quite reaching this ideal. We can regard, therefore, the freeing of our thinking from the severe limitations of its biological form to be an essentially SPIRITUAL UNDERTAKING.”
Few quotes found on page 369 in Ray Kurzweil’s book “The Singularity is near”
“Philosophies of life rooted in centuries-old traditions contain much wisdom concerning personal, organization, and social living. Many of us also find shortcomings in those traditions. How could they not reach some mistaken conclusions when they arose in pre-scientific times? At the same time, ancient philosophies of life have little or nothing to say about fundamental issues confronting us as advanced technologies begin to enable us to change OUR IDENTITY as individuals and as humans and as economic, cultural, and political forces change global relationships.” Max More, “Principle of Extropy”
“Yes, we have a soul. But it’s made of lots of tiny robots.” Giulio Giorelli
Substrate (noun)
The material or substance on which an enzyme acts.
A surface on which an organism grows or is attached.
An underlying layer; a substratum
“Substrate is morally irrelevant, assuming it doesn’t affect functionality or consciousness. It doesn’t matter, from a moral point of view, whether somebody runs on silicon or biological neurons (Just as it doesn’t matter whether you have dark or pale skin). On the same grounds, that we reject racism and speciesism, we should also reject carbon-chauvinism, or BIOISM.” Nick Bostrom, “Ethics for Intelligent Machines’
‘Only technology can provide the scale to overcome the challenges with which human society has struggled for generations. For example, emerging technologies will provide the means of providing and storing clean and renewable energy, removing toxins and pathogens from our bodies and the environment, and providing the knowledge and wealth to overcome hunger and poverty.
‘As I see it the purpose of the universe reflects the same purpose as our lives; to move toward greater intelligence and knowledge. Our human intelligence and our technological form the cutting edge of this expanding intelligence (given that we are not aware of any extraterrestrial competitors). Having reached a tipping point, we will within this century be ready to infuse our solar system with our intelligence through self-replicating non-biological intelligence. It will then spread out to the rest of the universe.’
WE can apply the enormous leverage provided by the acceleration of technology. A notable example is achieving radical life extension through ‘a bridge to a bridge, to a bridge’ (applying todays knowledge as a bridge to biotechnology, which in turn will bridge us to the era of nanotechnology). This offers a way to live indefinitely NOW, even though we don’t yet have all the knowledge necessary for radical life extension. In other words, we don’t’ have to solve every problem today. We can anticipate the capability of technologies that are coming – in five years or ten or twenty – and work these into our plans. That is how I design my own technology projects, and we can do the same with the large problems facing society and with our own lives.” Ray Kurzweil