NEITHER DEMONISE NOR IDOLISE
- Jun 2
- 1 min read
Pope Leo XIV has issued Magnifica Humanitas. You guessed. It means Magnificent Humanity.
The sub-title reads:
Safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence.
I have read the 42,088-word document – twice. I asked various AI platforms for a summary.
All were mediocre:
Natural intelligence has, and will continue to have, the upper hand.
AI can be used for good or for ill, precisely because it is a tool in our hands.
Many benefits will come from AI. We experience some now. Likewise, there are clear and present dangers emerging. These too are being felt.
A line of Magnificent Humanity bespeaks wisdom:
Our first task is neither to demonise nor idolise AI (MH 137).
The pope places before us a choice.
We can either build the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11) or we can rebuild the walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2-6).
The former activity was a Godless enterprise:
They tried building without God and found themselves confused and scattered.
The latter activity was a Godly enterprise:
Nehemiah fasted, prayed and consulted. The rebuilding project succeeded ‘through shared responsibility: men, women, priests, artisans, heads of households and young people.’
How do we want to live?
AMEN.
