Faith, flight, and the future: A reflection on A.I. and more

I received a tip from a pastor friend this weekend. “Go to our big box retailer and pick up a magazine titled A.I. (Artificial Intelligence). He was also of the opinion that A.I. was not very compatible with our understanding of the Christian faith.

So that I did. Had to look long and hard and maybe picked up the last magazine for sale. The trip wasn’t wasted as a group of volunteers selling Girl Scout cookies were out front. Picked up three packets as Grannie Annie and I consider that a good cause for the future of our young people today.

Speaking of good causes our local YMCA held a book exchange.

“Bring in the books you’ve read and take some back home that you are interested in.” The price was right and for this old couple, it was a chance to offload some five boxes of books in preparation for moving.

Later during the exchange, I was impressed that many of the books that I had donated were gone to new homes but of course I also brought home a couple of interesting new ones. I’m not so much into fiction but prefer scientific subjects and history, primarily the experiences of we military veterans. To each his own.

The A.I. thing is of interest to me as it is computer generated. Yes I got into computers at the starting of the age but in no way has this old guy kept up with the technology. Yes I own and use a smart phone and I do also use an iPad as well as a desktop computer. I do text and use the internet but am not proficient in many of the current apps. The word program on my computer is what you are reading today. It is my observation that many many computer savvy gurus have converted about all mankind’s history and experience into electronic memory and then A.I. picks and choses the electronic intelligence that it needs to produce an answer to an input question.

Our animal brains are actually electronic computers and some thinkers, example Elon Musk, have found ways to tap into our thoughts, say an instruction that moves our arm, and make that element move even though the body’s nerve system had been severed. An example is the device that you may notice on a friend that has been anchored in his skull that gives him normal hearing or sight. Amazing and we are seeing just the start of that technology today. It is all way above my pay grade now.

Reports are that the numbers of persons of Christian faith are decreasing in our nation today. The Christian faith is what has made ours the great nation that it is today. Maybe the A.I. technology can help bolster that faith and we will have an even better future for those who succeed us.

Ah it is a wonderful world! This morning, Monday as I write, I turned east to climb the small hill leading to our Community Hospital and the Cardiac Rehab clinic. I appreciate the hour of exercise and enjoy the wonderful ladies that staff the clinic. They always have a positive attitude and are a joy to experience.

What struck me heading into the rising sun was a series of brilliant white controls across the blue sky. In my flying career, I have so enjoyed flying at high altitudes in jet-powered aircraft especially over this wonderful southwestern Nebraska where we live. It is mostly smooth and quiet at those altitudes, even though the temperature is around fifty degrees below zero outside the window. It is enlightening to trace the flow of our Republican Rive,r where it originates in two branches in eastern Colorado. Then there is the Aricharee joining with the north branch of the Republican near Haigler. Along the Aricharee, one can see where the battle of the Beecher Island took place. The glint of water behind the large manmade dams along the way. Our area is so flat as it was laid down by clay blown in from the Rocky Mountains and then sculpted by the flow of rivers and smaller streams. There is the higher divide where the flows are northern to the North Platte River and southerly into the Republican. The whole area is crisscrossed with dirt roads and paved highways laid out in a structured pattern of section lines. Those lines were laid out by government surveyors in yet Indian country, and were made necessary by the upcoming homestead movement to settle our vast rural areas. Yes I could spot where my great-grandmother and her husband homesteaded along the Driftwood creek.

When pulling those beautiful contrails, the pilots up front can’t see them, but you know they are happening because you can see other traffic in your field of view laying down those beautiful trails of water vapor. I am so thankful that the Good Lord steered my life into the world of aviation.

That is how I saw it.