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Articles

What is virtual reality?

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November 14, 2018

An inconspicuous black case sits on my desk, holding a revolutionary device. This virtual reality headset allows you to travel to the ends of the earth and connect with others that are a world away, in an artificial environment of your design and choosing. Each world can capture your imagination with sights, sounds, and the ability to touch digital objects as you manipulate them in your hands.   

What is virtual reality?  

Virtual reality is a concept that has been around for many years but wasn’t available to the masses until recently. What once was a hobbyist dream has turned into a multi-billion dollar industry. For example, in 2012, Palmer Luckey debuted his popular headset design called Oculus on Kickstarter. In 2014, Facebook purchased his young startup for over two billion dollars. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and founder of Facebook, has stated that his company’s mission is to see one billion people in virtual reality.  

To enter VR, you can purchase a full-fledged headset from popular brands like Oculus, HTC, and Sony. Or you can use your smartphone placed inside of a cardboard headset like Google Cardboard. Once you turn on your device, you are immediately transported to another world where you can walk with the dinosaurs or learn firsthand about the Syrian Civil War by riding along with journalists through the desert.    

VR is full of amazing potential, but it can also be harnessed in ways that allow us to devalue our bodies and disconnect from the real world around us. This article won’t deal with the obvious dangers like the use of VR to enhance pornographic experiences. Instead, we will consider the subtle risks of this technology in light of what the Scriptures teach about the importance of the body and community.  

An out-of-body experience  

The goal of VR is to transport you to another world through a deeply immersive experience. Most headsets come with some type of handheld controller that allows you to manipulate the virtual world around you, while the goggles are designed to block all peripheral vision so that you lose yourself in the virtual world.  

When I first tried the headset on, I was amazed at how realistic it felt. My eyes and ears tricked my brain into believing that I was standing next to a live dinosaur while using the popular Jurassic Park app for the Oculus Go platform. It is so realistic that a friend of mine actually ducked when the dinosaur’s tail swung over his head.  

One of the prevailing narratives coming out of the VR world is that you can having meaningful relationships and experiences disconnected from your body and the real world around you. It is easy to see why this is appealing to many. You can shed a few pounds when you design your avatar, change your personality to project who you want to be rather than who you really are, and even attend church with folks from around the world without leaving your bed on Sunday mornings.

But after an extended time in the virtual world, I found myself longing for real life. VR is often addictive because it seems to free you from the physical. It unintentionally revives the second century heresy of Gnosticism, which promotes that the body is of less value than the spirit. The spirit is to be prized above all because the material was created by a lesser divinity. Gnostics argued that Christ was sent to redeem only the souls of men and not to bring about a true resurrection of the body. Scripturally, however, our souls and bodies are inextricably linked together (1 Thess. 5:23). In light of this truth, we should not mindlessly adopt the narrative that promotes the value of the mind/soul over the physical world.  

Weighing the pros and cons  

A Christian response to VR should focus on the good uses of this technology while keeping in mind how it can be used to feed our pride. VR is a tool that can be used to promote human flourishing, so a proper Christian response is not to outright reject technological developments. These technologies, which God allows us to create, can be used to love him and our neighbors.  

We can use them to see inside the womb and show the world that the smallest among us are created in God’s image, thus deserving of honor and dignity. We can use VR to reach millions of people with the gospel of Jesus Christ through online ministries of apologetics and missional outreach. We can use these tools to see places that we will never have the opportunity to visit, enabling us to empathize with the circumstances of those around the globe  

Yet, we must never give into the notion that our bodies are not as valuable as our souls. Both are integral to who we are. You are one, even if you sometimes feel that your body doesn’t represent who you are on the inside. This dissonance is not a sign that your body is a prison; it’s a reminder than we live in a broken and sinful world distorted by sin.  

Many will discuss the virtues and vices of VR as it becomes more mainstream. Christians need to remember that this technology is not a savior that frees us from our bodies, nor is it a destroyer sent to wreak havoc on our families. It is one of the many tools that God has given us to fulfill the greatest commandments: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” and, “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:27-28).  

I implore you to commit this truth to memory before you venture back into the world where dinosaurs roam and people live out their dreams. While you might feel disconnected from the world around you, God has made you to eventually put the headset aside and seek the good of the real neighbor who lives next door.

Jason Thacker

Jason Thacker serves as senior fellow focusing on Christian ethics, human dignity, public theology, and technology. He also leads the ERLC Research Institute. In addition to his work at the ERLC, he serves as assistant professor of philosophy and ethics at Boyce College in Louisville Kentucky. He is the author … Read More

Article 12: The Future of AI

We affirm that AI will continue to be developed in ways that we cannot currently imagine or understand, including AI that will far surpass many human abilities. God alone has the power to create life, and no future advancements in AI will usurp Him as the Creator of life. The church has a unique role in proclaiming human dignity for all and calling for the humane use of AI in all aspects of society.

We deny that AI will make us more or less human, or that AI will ever obtain a coequal level of worth, dignity, or value to image-bearers. Future advancements in AI will not ultimately fulfill our longings for a perfect world. While we are not able to comprehend or know the future, we do not fear what is to come because we know that God is omniscient and that nothing we create will be able to thwart His redemptive plan for creation or to supplant humanity as His image-bearers.

Genesis 1; Isaiah 42:8; Romans 1:20-21; 5:2; Ephesians 1:4-6; 2 Timothy 1:7-9; Revelation 5:9-10

Article 11: Public Policy

We affirm that the fundamental purposes of government are to protect human beings from harm, punish those who do evil, uphold civil liberties, and to commend those who do good. The public has a role in shaping and crafting policies concerning the use of AI in society, and these decisions should not be left to those who develop these technologies or to governments to set norms.

We deny that AI should be used by governments, corporations, or any entity to infringe upon God-given human rights. AI, even in a highly advanced state, should never be delegated the governing authority that has been granted by an all-sovereign God to human beings alone. 

Romans 13:1-7; Acts 10:35; 1 Peter 2:13-14

Article 10: War

We affirm that the use of AI in warfare should be governed by love of neighbor and the principles of just war. The use of AI may mitigate the loss of human life, provide greater protection of non-combatants, and inform better policymaking. Any lethal action conducted or substantially enabled by AI must employ 5 human oversight or review. All defense-related AI applications, such as underlying data and decision-making processes, must be subject to continual review by legitimate authorities. When these systems are deployed, human agents bear full moral responsibility for any actions taken by the system.

We deny that human agency or moral culpability in war can be delegated to AI. No nation or group has the right to use AI to carry out genocide, terrorism, torture, or other war crimes.

Genesis 4:10; Isaiah 1:16-17; Psalm 37:28; Matthew 5:44; 22:37-39; Romans 13:4

Article 9: Security

We affirm that AI has legitimate applications in policing, intelligence, surveillance, investigation, and other uses supporting the government’s responsibility to respect human rights, to protect and preserve human life, and to pursue justice in a flourishing society.

We deny that AI should be employed for safety and security applications in ways that seek to dehumanize, depersonalize, or harm our fellow human beings. We condemn the use of AI to suppress free expression or other basic human rights granted by God to all human beings.

Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-14

Article 8: Data & Privacy

We affirm that privacy and personal property are intertwined individual rights and choices that should not be violated by governments, corporations, nation-states, and other groups, even in the pursuit of the common good. While God knows all things, it is neither wise nor obligatory to have every detail of one’s life open to society.

We deny the manipulative and coercive uses of data and AI in ways that are inconsistent with the love of God and love of neighbor. Data collection practices should conform to ethical guidelines that uphold the dignity of all people. We further deny that consent, even informed consent, although requisite, is the only necessary ethical standard for the collection, manipulation, or exploitation of personal data—individually or in the aggregate. AI should not be employed in ways that distort truth through the use of generative applications. Data should not be mishandled, misused, or abused for sinful purposes to reinforce bias, strengthen the powerful, or demean the weak.

Exodus 20:15, Psalm 147:5; Isaiah 40:13-14; Matthew 10:16 Galatians 6:2; Hebrews 4:12-13; 1 John 1:7 

Article 7: Work

We affirm that work is part of God’s plan for human beings participating in the cultivation and stewardship of creation. The divine pattern is one of labor and rest in healthy proportion to each other. Our view of work should not be confined to commercial activity; it must also include the many ways that human beings serve each other through their efforts. AI can be used in ways that aid our work or allow us to make fuller use of our gifts. The church has a Spirit-empowered responsibility to help care for those who lose jobs and to encourage individuals, communities, employers, and governments to find ways to invest in the development of human beings and continue making vocational contributions to our lives together.

We deny that human worth and dignity is reducible to an individual’s economic contributions to society alone. Humanity should not use AI and other technological innovations as a reason to move toward lives of pure leisure even if greater social wealth creates such possibilities.

Genesis 1:27; 2:5; 2:15; Isaiah 65:21-24; Romans 12:6-8; Ephesians 4:11-16

Article 6: Sexuality

We affirm the goodness of God’s design for human sexuality which prescribes the sexual union to be an exclusive relationship between a man and a woman in the lifelong covenant of marriage.

We deny that the pursuit of sexual pleasure is a justification for the development or use of AI, and we condemn the objectification of humans that results from employing AI for sexual purposes. AI should not intrude upon or substitute for the biblical expression of sexuality between a husband and wife according to God’s design for human marriage.

Genesis 1:26-29; 2:18-25; Matthew 5:27-30; 1 Thess 4:3-4

Article 5: Bias

We affirm that, as a tool created by humans, AI will be inherently subject to bias and that these biases must be accounted for, minimized, or removed through continual human oversight and discretion. AI should be designed and used in such ways that treat all human beings as having equal worth and dignity. AI should be utilized as a tool to identify and eliminate bias inherent in human decision-making.

We deny that AI should be designed or used in ways that violate the fundamental principle of human dignity for all people. Neither should AI be used in ways that reinforce or further any ideology or agenda, seeking to subjugate human autonomy under the power of the state.

Micah 6:8; John 13:34; Galatians 3:28-29; 5:13-14; Philippians 2:3-4; Romans 12:10

Article 4: Medicine

We affirm that AI-related advances in medical technologies are expressions of God’s common grace through and for people created in His image and that these advances will increase our capacity to provide enhanced medical diagnostics and therapeutic interventions as we seek to care for all people. These advances should be guided by basic principles of medical ethics, including beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice, which are all consistent with the biblical principle of loving our neighbor.

We deny that death and disease—effects of the Fall—can ultimately be eradicated apart from Jesus Christ. Utilitarian applications regarding healthcare distribution should not override the dignity of human life. Fur- 3 thermore, we reject the materialist and consequentialist worldview that understands medical applications of AI as a means of improving, changing, or completing human beings.

Matthew 5:45; John 11:25-26; 1 Corinthians 15:55-57; Galatians 6:2; Philippians 2:4

Article 3: Relationship of AI & Humanity

We affirm the use of AI to inform and aid human reasoning and moral decision-making because it is a tool that excels at processing data and making determinations, which often mimics or exceeds human ability. While AI excels in data-based computation, technology is incapable of possessing the capacity for moral agency or responsibility.

We deny that humans can or should cede our moral accountability or responsibilities to any form of AI that will ever be created. Only humanity will be judged by God on the basis of our actions and that of the tools we create. While technology can be created with a moral use in view, it is not a moral agent. Humans alone bear the responsibility for moral decision making.

Romans 2:6-8; Galatians 5:19-21; 2 Peter 1:5-8; 1 John 2:1

Article 2: AI as Technology

We affirm that the development of AI is a demonstration of the unique creative abilities of human beings. When AI is employed in accordance with God’s moral will, it is an example of man’s obedience to the divine command to steward creation and to honor Him. We believe in innovation for the glory of God, the sake of human flourishing, and the love of neighbor. While we acknowledge the reality of the Fall and its consequences on human nature and human innovation, technology can be used in society to uphold human dignity. As a part of our God-given creative nature, human beings should develop and harness technology in ways that lead to greater flourishing and the alleviation of human suffering.

We deny that the use of AI is morally neutral. It is not worthy of man’s hope, worship, or love. Since the Lord Jesus alone can atone for sin and reconcile humanity to its Creator, technology such as AI cannot fulfill humanity’s ultimate needs. We further deny the goodness and benefit of any application of AI that devalues or degrades the dignity and worth of another human being. 

Genesis 2:25; Exodus 20:3; 31:1-11; Proverbs 16:4; Matthew 22:37-40; Romans 3:23

Article 1: Image of God

We affirm that God created each human being in His image with intrinsic and equal worth, dignity, and moral agency, distinct from all creation, and that humanity’s creativity is intended to reflect God’s creative pattern.

We deny that any part of creation, including any form of technology, should ever be used to usurp or subvert the dominion and stewardship which has been entrusted solely to humanity by God; nor should technology be assigned a level of human identity, worth, dignity, or moral agency.

Genesis 1:26-28; 5:1-2; Isaiah 43:6-7; Jeremiah 1:5; John 13:34; Colossians 1:16; 3:10; Ephesians 4:24