A red light means use the brakes to stop the vehicle. Some people do and some don’t which keeps insurance companies, lawyers and ER’s busy. But this applies to more and more decisions we, as a society, are making. The reason may be found in the sources of information. We’ve let down our guard, ignored the red light of wisdom embedded in our national destiny. Also, we have presumed all the big technology firms are on a solid ethical foundation in a new era. The big tech firms are the 21st century media.
There is a new story about how social media players played such a deceptive role in the election leading up to November 8th when a bright white beacon on a hill exposed every shadow and lie in the media valley by November 9th. The bright light was not just old white men; it was everyone who works hard for a living. Today, some are crying, “Change the red light to another color” and “These old-fashioned work ethics and American cultural values don’t work”. Social media and traditional media firms are at their call.  However, the USA has always had a deep sense of a national destiny: one nation under God, which made its way into The Pledge of Allegiance in 1954 at the request of President Eisenhower. Hit your brakes and think about that: the United States even now has a national destiny. As a nation we recently voted to stop at a critically important red light at an even more critical intersection where American democracy and some alternative meet – will we remain one nation under God or not? The alternatives to liberty could be costly.
RPW 2016

From,The Only Fields That Matter pub 2014.  *Author's note at end of section

  One movement that materialized in 2011 attempting to mitigate joblessness and economic oppression experienced by the college-grad demographic also had no solution for relief. You recall the movement that embodied the voice against the wealthy and getting wealthier 1%; it was Occupy Wall Street.  I tracked this loose assembly on Twitter and across the media for their two-year run and came to my own conclusion: OWS was a counterfeit movement frayed by a confused ideology. I believe that the counterfeit will soon be followed by another movement characteristically more aggressive; it will be validated and receive support from institutions and organizations and work in alliance with sub-cultures that demand recognition of their particular so-called oppressions.

What OccupyWallStreet inherited, philosophically, was an ambition and obligation to also incorporate a religious and ideological component; their only safe and easy targets were Republicans and Christians. Likewise, The Arab Spring was rooted in overcoming religious oppression. The United States issues are political and economic but are in reality, social and religious.

The next movement, on the next iteration, will certainly retain its comprehensive economic overtones concerning inequality but likely carry the analogy to victimization joined by those locked in racial, immigration and sexual rights issues. Could it be possible, too, that following after President Obama, himself a promoter of activism, that our next President identifies his/ her platform as a Movement Leader? There is another movement on the move.

Author's Note:
Although in the Great Recession after losing my career and retirement safety net, I didn’t find it necessary to join a movement. I job searched endlessly and worked low-wage jobs, leaving behind $41/hour for $9.10/hr. Now outside of corporate walls I began to focus on all the “other” voices in the world and our nation -  we were changing to a nation of  the movements which I elaborated in The Only Fields That Matter, published in 2014.
The Occupy Wallstreet Movement captured my attention in 2011 for one reason only: it seemed to be heralding the coming of a more ideological, more centralized, more victimized movement based on social injustices perceived by a younger American generation raised on social medias. They didn’t want to be Democrats or Republicans – they wanted liberties without restraint and responsibility. In other parts of the world the Arab Spring movement spread to 21 nations preceding Occupy Wallstreet only by a few months; as you can see from this timeline. The chaos in the Arab Spring uprisings always began in street protests. Presently, this new movement I believed in 2011 was forming  – neither Democrat nor Republican -  are now protesting in US city streets: not my President-Not my country.

Comments about Mr. Musk’s “two fundamental paths” facing humanity today have, from reading the media stories-comments, aligned to about 50/50: He’s either unrealistic or he’s mankind’s answer for survival. 

  As for much of the state of culture and popular values – one cannot question too loudly technology trends these days without a rebuke from those whose trust in technology is unwavering. People are already using, developing or investing in digital technology but are we ready to leave earth for Mars? For now when you think about the autonomous car, sensors, artificial intelligence, internet-of-things, genomics – our imaginations go wild. The cool factors aside; jobs are created, innovation thrives, healthcare advances and lives change. All good.

As for the two paths elaborated by Mr. Musk, however, he’s denied the most basic knowledge about the hope of humanity. Hope isn’t left to humankind fleeing toward the planets and starting over nor is it about human intelligence figuring out how to survive “inevitable destruction”. It’s about going way, way beyond the planets to heaven which is God’s promise to those who accept Jesus’ words about his Father. Mr. Musk is right in one regard: earth is not an eternal planet in its present state. From Genesis to Revelation the message is clear: our time here was always heading toward more than extinction but rather, re-creation. The frustration we’ve been subjected to is not eternal. Techno-dreamers, adventurers and hope-filled optimists for humankind are a sign of humanity’s hope even though the science & technology fields apply understanding of things scientifically, empirically, mathematically and logically. The miraculous is not their concern. It’s beyond understanding.

Going back to AI, genomics, neuroscience, precision medicine, robotics and more; throw all of this together and we are still more than concerned about planet Earth’s inevitable destruction Mr. Musk mentioned. Honestly, it’s painful to watch in motion. Sure enough, there was a solution all along and in Jesus the promise of eternally living far, far beyond Mars to Heaven itself is for everyone who dares to believe. No rocket required.
RPW2016

I began reading the new report “Artificial Intelligence and Life in 2030”. One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence (AI100), published by a Study Panel composed of university technologists. The areas of industry having social impacts covered in the 52 page report are transportation, healthcare, robots, education, low-resource communities, public safety and security, employment and workforce and finally, entertainment.  (https://ai100.stanford.edu/ )
Each section references “ethics” and this got me thinking about how ethics, in general, are of great interest and concern to us because each industry produces technology that is pervasive in our lives whether you are age 1 or 101.

Therefore, I’ll let technology considerations rest for this blog. I want to address ethics, which, too, is pervasively sweeping into society about present and future human behaviors such as device and software dependence. Like all aspects of life, there is a beginning, a foundation, a forerunner, a spark of wisdom that sets ideas and values in motion. For me, that sense of beginning came from my study of the Bible. Yes, I know: science with religion fare poorly in our digital, scientific age. The Bible clearly establishes God as the giver of intelligence, skills and life itself - all for a greater glory.

The foundation of ethics is that we, as individuals, are not here to simply exist but to exist with a purpose. The purpose in life is absolutely individualistic. No two persons are alike or have the identical calling or purpose even though many share a common vision. In fact, that’s where people of different callings find one another; in their unique purpose living for something greater than themselves. My point being, we are created with nothing artificial; we're the real deal of life.

And that’s all I hope to communicate to such a collection of intelligent people who have committed to study and report how AI is changing many aspects of life. Ethics grounded in truth such as provided in Psalm 139 will enable leaders to envision a hopeful future whether AI or any other human-technological integration occurs. Here, it starts with valuing human life above all else - we've been created for a purpose. “For You created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place.”

Forever human. Born with purpose. Authentic.
RPW2016