People make people. That starts with our ability to conceive a baby in a womb, passing on our genes to the infant. But then it continues as we play a part in what comes after birth, for a child grows up being shaped by his family, culture, education and other formative influences. Through natural abilities which have been granted to us by God: we have children ‘in our likeness’ (Genesis 5:3). Indeed, we can even extend our built-in capacities by using our technical skills, such as by enabling conception through medical intervention when the natural process can’t function for some reason. People make people.
But will our technical skills allow us to do even more in the future? Will we learn how to build robots that are in our likeness - moving, speaking, reasoning like us? Indeed, will we be able to build them as androids who physically resemble us? Could it even be that we will build them from materials so similar to our own bodies, and making use of biological processes which exist in our systems, that the resemblance will be more than passing? Maybe so. Some believe Genesis 6 speaks of babies conceived by the wicked liaison of heavenly beings with human women, an abnormal practice showing such depths of depravity that it was the final straw requiring the flood. If that’s true then we may well, in the future, find alternative ways to create offspring with human likeness. But even if that interpretation is misguided, do we have any reasons for thinking we won’t be able to do it anyhow?
However, even if that happens, there’s one important thing to say. Though we may build hybrids which surpass us in all kinds of ways, they can never replace us. After all, there are many things which are already superior to some of our abilities. Animals which are stronger and faster than us. Angels who are are wiser and more powerful than us. But none of these have the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). None have been chosen as the eternal children of God. Supremely, the Son of God did not become like any of these. He became a man and his church is his bride, with no rival for his affection, leading to the Holy Spirit dwelling within believers. The Father has only appointed his children to rule - with Christ as their head - the new creation (1 Corinthians 6:3). No matter what powers exist in the spiritual realm or our own, and no matter how much greater they are than us in regard to individual skills – strength, speed, sight, hearing, knowledge, reasoning – they cannot supplant us. We alone are those whom the Triune God has graciously chosen to bear his image, to have his likeness, that we might share his infinite and eternal life. So no matter what inventions we build and no matter how wonderful they are, we are incapable of making anything that supplants what God has created us to be.
Photo by Taiki Ishikawa on Unsplash
All posts tagged under technology notebook
Introduction to this series of posts
Cover photo by Denley Photography on Unsplash
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.