AI Apes, Poetry and Prayer

by Dwight Longenecker

Our middle son explained how artificial intelligence could help him work as a nurse: “I can ask AI to devise a diet, exercise and health plan for a particular patient and it will come up with a complete diagnosis, diet, exercise and overall health lifestyle plan in a few seconds.” Our oldest son explained how he’s using AI to help his business with insurance and finance correspondence. “A machine opens the letters and feeds them into a scanner which reads the letters — even handwritten ones — then AI devises a proper response, prints out the letter or writes an email and sends it.”

All very wonderful I’m sure, and not wishing to be too Amish or Luddite about it, I can see the practical applications of artificial intelligence. Indeed the whole concept is based in a perception of reality that is wholly utilitarian. If you can do it smarter and faster and without error you save time and money and that must always be a good thing right?

Yes, well maybe, but there are more things in heaven and earth Horatio than your utilitarianism hath dreamt of. Things like prayer and poetry and art and music and being a living soul.

These conversations took with my sons took place while I was contemplating an essay by the poet Dana Gioia titled Christianity and Poetry. Gioia sets out his premise in the first page: “Most Christians misunderstand the relationship of poetry to their faith…Poetry is not merely important to Christianity. It is an essential, inextricable and necessary aspect…