HAL
2D depiction of the interface prop used by Stanley Kubrick in his 1968 movie "2001: A space Odyssey" to represent the Artificial Intelligence named Hal. The movie is based in turn on Arthur C. Clarke's novels. (Wikimedia Commons)
A United Methodist Insight Column
Sometimes, it's good to remind ourselves that when we're alerted to what's happening beyond the church, we have untold opportunities for sharing God's love and caring for God's creation. I had three such moments recently when catching up on my reading.
First, NPR published an article on coming to terms with AI as a villain. In "'Open the pod bay door, HAL' — here's how AI became a movie villain," critic Bob Mondello pegged Stanley Kubrick's 1968 masterpiece, "2001: A Space Odyssey" as the cultural moment when we collectively realized that the artificial intelligence we created could think for itself and develop self-preservation.
"Artificial intelligence that can mimic conversation, whether written or spoken, has been in the news a lot this year, delighting some members of the public while worrying educators, politicians, the World Health Organization, and even some of the people developing AI technology." This sounds a lot like a recent editorial I wrote, "Taking Another Bite of the Forbidden Fruit."
After noting that the current writers' and actors' strike focuses on increasing use of AI, Mondello writes: "It seems not to have occurred to Tinseltown that AI might do the things it's actually doing — make social media dangerous, or make undergrad writing courses unteachable, or screw up relationships by auto-completing incorrectly. None of those are terribly cinematic, so Hollywood concentrates on exploiting our fears — in the late 20th century, we worried about ceding control to technology. In the 21st century, we worry about losing control of technology."
Second, Nina Lakhani, climate justice reporter for The Guardian, interviewed Jeff Goodall, author of the new book "The Heat Will Kill You First," on the bedrock role that racism plays in the U.S. failure to treat this summer's heat waves as the disaster they truly are. In "Racism at heart of US failure to tackle deadly heatwaves, expert warns," she phrases the risk this way:
"Heat – in the atmosphere and the oceans – is driving every single climate impact, from rising sea level and melting glaciers to intensifying droughts, wildfires and superstorms. Heat is the 'engine of planetary chaos' yet its dangers remain poorly understood."
Goodall's concerns expressed in the interview echo those of the Rev. Michael Malcom, on whose talk to faith-based climate advocates Insight reported recently.
" ... Heat, much like the Covid pandemic, exposes and exacerbates existing structural and racial inequalities in housing, wages, healthcare, mobility and access to solutions. One of Goodell’s biggest fears is that the world will adapt to heat deaths much like it did with Covid. 'Covid showed us how much death we’re willing to tolerate. I am concerned that we’ll simply adapt to the chaos and tragedy and accept 60,000 people dying every summer, and we’ll forget that we created this climate and that we have control over it.'"
Finally, closing the loop, climate activism godfather Bill McKibben reported in his "The Crucial Years" newsletter this note from Bloomberg:
"The race to build large language models used in generative AI has created a surge in demand for more powerful processors. The specialized chips required for AI—broadly known as accelerators—emit so much more heat than general-purpose chips do that data center operators are having to rethink their cooling systems entirely, says Colm Shorten, a data center sustainability expert at real estate investment firm JLL."
Friends, few signs could be clearer than these of the interconnections of social issues on which United Methodists hold official positions found in both the Book of Discipline and the Book of Resolutions. Remember that we touched on these issues from a faith perspective earlier here on United Methodist Insight. When our faith gives us such early warnings, we'd do best to heed the Holy Spirit's prompting and get on with meeting the challenges before us.
More than just emissions fueling heatwaves
Climate scientist Michael Wysession, Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, writes on The Conversation that we'd better prepare for a couple more rough years weather-wise thanks to three additional factors that fueled this year's extreme heat:
"Three additional natural factors are also helping drive up global temperatures and fuel disasters this year: El Niño, solar fluctuations and a massive underwater volcanic eruption."
Still time to comment on emissions safeguards
Evangelical Environmental Network reports that nearly 300 people in its community have submitted comments to the Environmental Protection Agency in support of the agency’s proposed safeguards on carbon pollution from fossil-fuel-fired power plants.
Why comment? Here's EEN's reasoning:
"Power plants are responsible for roughly 25% of climate pollution in the United States and are the second largest course of carbon emissions. In addition to fueling climate change, pollution from fossil-fuel-fired power plants leads to poor air quality and a variety of negative health outcomes. The good news? The EPA’s proposed standards will prevent 1,300 premature deaths, 800 hospital and ER visits, more than 300,000 asthma attacks, 38,000 school absences, and 66,000 lost workdays in the year 2030 alone. The safeguards are also estimated to yield huge savings, with nearly $85 billion in health and climate benefits for all over the next two decades, relative to only $10 billion in total compliance costs.
"The extreme heat and hazy skies of this summer have made one thing clear: we cannot wait to cut climate pollution," EEN's alert concludes.
Media Mentions as of Aug. 7, 2023
First United Methodist Church once again preparing supplies for local students as school ... - KVOE
Earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria still need our help – Religion News Service
United Methodist loyalists back in church building in Jonesboro - The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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An award-winning religion journalist who has reported on The United Methodist Church at all levels for 35 years, Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, an online journal she founded in 2011. "Crisis Watch" forms part of Insight's participation in Covering Climate Now, an international collaboration of some 500 news outlets around the world committed to enhance climate coverage. To reproduce this content elsewhere, please email Insight for permission.