In folly ripe. In reason rotten. Putting machine theology to rest
  Computation has changed the world more than any previous expressions of
knowledge. In its particular algorithmic embodiment, it offers a perspective,
within which the digital computer (one of many possible) exercises a role
reminiscent of theology. Since it is closed to meaning, algorithmic digital
computation can at most mimic the creative aspects of life. AI, in the
perspective of time, proved to be less an acronym for artificial intelligence
and more of automating tasks associated with intelligence. The entire
development led to the hypostatized role of the machine: outputting nothing
else but reality, including that of the humanity that made the machine happen.
The convergence machine called deep learning is only the latest form through
which the deterministic theology of the machine claims more than what extremely
effective data processing actually is. A new understanding of complexity, as
well as the need to distinguish between the reactive nature of the artificial
and the anticipatory nature of the living are suggested as practical responses
to the challenges posed by machine theology.
