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Thoughts on Morals and Computers

Self driving cars consist of software controlling a car.  Facebook consists of many software programs.  Twitter, instagram, Google, Amazon and every other website and app people use are pieces of software written by people.  Software is simply instructions, written by people, telling computers what to do.  For many years I was a computer programmer.  The way the process is supposed to work is that people gather and determine what the end result is supposed to be.  These requirements are then given to programmers who make choices on how to bring about those results.  There are many, sometimes hundreds of choices that a programmer can make on how to bring about the desired results.  

As we enter the realm of “machine learning” or “artificial intelligence” computer programmers, people, will be deciding how to bring about the results that the directors want.  Currently, Facebook has told its users that it will determine what is true news and fake news.  Those choices are being made by programmers.  Therefore, what a programmer thinks is fake news will be reflected in what the program thinks is fake news.  The choices that the Facebook program makes were made by programmers weeks or months or years ago. The Facebook program is so massive, that no one person knows what is going on in it. 

When it comes to self driving cars, the moral question that comes up is this:  What if the car was speeding toward a school bus full of children.  What does the car do?  Does it potentially kill the driver to save the children?  This is a moral choice and a programmer will make that choice prior to the car entering that situation.  The morals of the programmer(s) will be reflected in how the car drives.  Recently a self-driving car crashed.  Right before the crash, the car accelerated.  Why?  The programmer told it to.  Machines only do what programmers tell them to do.

Most people think that things like Facebook and Twitter and self-driving cars are neutral.  That is not true.  Just like a piece of fictional writing will reflect the morals of the author, computer software reflects the world view and morals of the author.  In my worldview, there is only one group of people who have correct morals.  That would be true believing Christians who seek to follow Christ by being very involved in a church and financually supporting the work of God.  Only these people know true morals and only these people have the foundation to back up their belief in those morals.  

In would be illegal for Facebook to ask potential programmers if they are true Christians.  Mark Zuckerberg would not do that anyway, since he beleives that people are basically good and they just need to be guided by a benevolant dictator.  Mark Zuckerberg’s worldview, and the worldview of Facebook is specifically anti-God.  Therefore to think that the people who write Facebook are good wholesome people who have God's best interest in mind is incorrect.  


My point is simply this.  True, eternal, morals come from God.  Righteousness and goodness come from God.  Godless companies who hire godless programmers to write software that you use do not have the best interest of godly people in mind.  Facebook’s ultimate goal is to destroy the Christian worldview.  Therefore use all software with eyes wide open.

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