KILLER COMPUTERS: Science Fiction Anticipates Our Future

by Lawrence Terlizzese

KILLER COMPUTERS is meant to stimulate thinking on the most critical issue of our times, technology, and in particular Artificial Intelligence, which occupies the foremost of our attention. It does this through a common science fiction films. Science fiction does not predict the future, but it does, for better or worse, anticipate it. KILLER COMPUTERS are a metaphor for when machines, in the not too distant future, are given the power by their creators, to make life and death decisions, especially in a military or Civil Defense context, which will inevitably spill over into medical and judicial realms. The solitary cause for this potential future is the collective resignation to think for ourselves in all things. The Enlightenment principle of Sapere Aude (dare to think for yourself) is being forgotten in favor an Artificial Intelligence that does all our thinking for us, especially the most difficult ones. The hope is that through awareness, we will be smart enough not to let that happen, while still enjoying the benefits this technology offers. Terlizzese includes a discussion on a theology of culture, On Black Holes and Arch Angels, as well as Grace and Law and case studies on important thinkers that address technological and political worlds, such as Gabriel Marcel and Reinhold Niebuhr. Hope is a predominate theme which is capped by a chapter on New Creation. Wisdom counsels a path through critical participation in the technological system. We must see ourselves as part of the problem and therefore, part of the solution.

498 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 10, 2019