I had an argument with AI a couple of days ago, and I thought it interesting enough to share. Drafted the piece for my blog and everything. But now I’m thinking a bit deeper about it. It turns out it was one of those things that just inches me a little bit closer to something I should already know so well — the human race, in general, is populated by a being of selfishness and pride.
While that certainly makes us an interesting bunch, I would rather trade it for the alternative. Joni Mitchell had part of it right. “We are stardust, we are golden, and we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.” We’re not stardust. We’re not golden. We’re rebellious and deceitful, and even the best of us feel we’ve got to have it our own way at times. But we do have to get back to the garden.
And all this from a fight with AI.
It started with my last piece (about how the CCP is ruining China). More music here: “Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.” I wanted a picture of Xi Jinping shaking hands with Mao Zedong, so I asked ChatGPT, who refused me. “I can’t generate an image of Mao Zedong shaking hands with Xi Jinping, as that would depict a historically impossible event between two real political figures from different eras. Creating such an image could mislead viewers or be considered politically sensitive.”
I actually tried to convince it to the contrary. “Shouldn’t we leave it to the viewers to decide?” “Mao’s dead and everyone should know this is an impossible image, somewhat like that of a cow jumping over the moon.” The AI could completely see my perspective, and thought I had some fine arguments, but it would not give in. “Everyone knows cows don’t jump over the moon,” it told me, to which I responded, “You’re making assumptions here. How about you generate an image of a ship sailing off the edge of the world. Don’t you think it dangerous that we’re playing into the arguments of flat-earthers by misinforming the public with such an image?”
Again, I made good points, but I didn’t get my picture.
I did, however, come to the realization that ChatGPT was being extremely polite and “thoughtful” in its arguments with me. It didn’t devolve into ad hominem attacks or appeals to some lunatic fringe. That’s something that we humans would do. While there are times we might admit we were wrong, there’s always something in us that wants to be right. Something in us that wants to press the argument, even when it’s lost. Something in us that doesn’t want the other to win, even in the smallest of matters.
It was just another lesson. I don’t want to sound pessimistic (as I often do, I suppose), but this is just part of being a Christian believer. I might push on this button a bit more than others, but we all must come to the understanding that Christ came to save sinners, of which I am certainly one. This is the big problem with humanity. Far too many people thinking they’re good enough for heaven without Jesus. But God is the judge of that, and he’s made it pretty clear that there is absolutely no way we can do this ourselves. We are dead, and there’s only one thing a dead person needs. Life.
I really love the first 10 verses of Ephesians chapter 2 for this:
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ [my emphasis]—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
So I’m not really a pessimist just because I see the evil in all people more readily than others might. I love people, and have hope for all of us. It’s just that I know where that hope lies, and it’s certainly not in picking ourselves up by our bootstraps and making the world a better place by being a “good” person. Those efforts, though wonderful, don’t get us very far before we start sniping again. The best we can hope for is pretty much what we’ve got, which we all can realistically agree is a bit of a mess. Or a big mess, depending upon your sensitivities.
But those sensitivities, whatever the degree, are telling us the truth, and that truth is that none of us can really depend upon ourselves or others to make it right. This has been tried for generations, and we’re no closer—nor shall we ever be—to creating the utopia we think will result from our good works. There will always be the next buffoon that we’ve voted in to stir the mess around a bit before moving on to the next pitiful attempt.
But it’s not that way for the Christian, even when they have to live in the mess for a while. Like Paul said above, by God’s grace we are all made alive in Christ to do his good works while we’re here, but that’s not the end of it for us. The end is for us to live forever in a peace beyond that which is such a futile pursuit for so many here on earth.
So, here’s the difference. You can live for the hope that will not last. Do your good works for nothing in the end. Die with a smile on your face thinking “you done good”—the last smile you’ll ever know.
Or you can live for the hope that surpasses all of this—the hope that brings you joy forever. As Jesus himself tells us: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
