Artificial intelligences may soon become ‘principal actors on our planet,’ says Kissinger in posthumous book ‘Genesis’

The late Henry Kissinger – one of the most influential Jewish figures of the past century – says in his final book that artificial general intelligences may soon become the most powerful beings on Earth.

Humanity must prepare “to navigate our role when we will no longer be the only or even the principal actors on our planet,” Kissinger and his co-authors argue.

Kissinger’s book – Genesis: Artificial Intelligence, Hope and the Human Spirit – was published on Tuesday, nearly a year after his death. The book was co-authored by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and former Senior Advisor at Microsoft Craig Mundie.

While the book may take its name from the ancient Hebrew Scriptures, it by no means embraces its message.

Whereas Moses’ Genesis speaks of the creation of mankind in the image of God, fashioned after His likeness, Kissinger’s Genesis speaks of the creation of new images, fashioned after the likeness of men.

As the Washington Times summarizes, the authors say they “prefer that no artificial general intelligence surpassing humanity’s intellect is allowed to emerge unless it is properly aligned with the human species.”

Yet what good would it do for such machines to be properly aligned with their creator, if we are not properly aligned with our own?

Would not such an alignment be an alignment with our rebellion and pride?

Though Kissinger and company warn of the dangers of AGI (artificial general intelligence), they say that they “wish success to our species’ gigantic project” – that is, the project of “coevolution” with AGI, by which humanity transcends its current state through “human fusion with machines.”

The views expressed by Kissinger and his co-authors are representative of the thinking of much of our world’s secular elite.

They seek to become like God by creating and merging with god-like machines.

Becoming Like God

As was quoted above, Kissinger’s Genesis says humans may soon “no longer be the only or even the principal actors on our planet.”

Yet human beings were never the only actors on our planet.

The Scriptures teach that our world is a spiritual battleground, in which the “god of this world” and his fellow rebellious spirits wage a war of envy against man, in order to turn him away from the living God.

What Kissinger and his co-authors describe as “our species’ gigantic project” is in reality a manifestation of the project begun by the Serpent in Eden, who told Eve that the likeness of God would be acquired through rebellion against God.

While many of the rulers of our age seek to become like God through union with god-like machines, the Scriptures teach that there is only one way to truly become like God – union with the eternal Son of God.

This union with God comes not through self-exaltation, but through the humility of the Messiah, who became man and was crucified in order to reconcile man to God.

While fallen mankind seeks to exalt itself above God through the work of its own hands, the Messiah offers to the work of His hands a different hope:

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” (James 4:10)