Reflections on Rosh Hashanah: humanity as creator of worlds

Reflections on Rosh Hashanah: humanity as creator of worlds Larry Pfeffer, Jerusalem – September 26 2024 Rosh Hashanah is not only start of a new year, but is anniversary of the World’s Creation. Worth reflecting on this as humanity may be destined to create worlds. Well known AI expert, visionary and entrepreneur Ray Kurtzweil had been predicting an imminent “singularity” when computers will reach our level of multi-dimensional general intelligence, including ethics, curiosity, creativity, selfawareness as well as other aspects of intelligence and then rapidly surpass our capabilities. AI research started around 1950 and progress has dramatically accelerated in the past few years. This has fundamental theological and other implications. One implication of emerging AI capabilities and other technical advance is the likely future ability to create societies of sentient synthetic vs. biological beings who could evolve, possibly under certain constraints. Such to us virtual worlds would be sustained by long-term and possibly permanent very high resolution computer simulation. At some phase of their development such beings are likely to perceive us as their creator. If the simulation is carefully built the y would not be able to detect anything outside their immediate reality and could not determine by any means if they are “real” or simulated. Neither can we humans. Emerging from a layer of reality into a more ‟real”, higher layer is a feat which generally can't be carried out by simulated beings and also humans. There is no Layer of Reality warp or wormhole, unless the capability is built into the simulation. Enormous and highly reliable “computational energy” would be required to simulate a synthetic world with its societies of sentient beings and other life forms, scenery, physical forces, place in its surrounding synthetic universe. Nobel prize winning physicist, artist, bongo player, safe opener Richard Feynman presented an enticing vision about making super-tiny machines in his 1959 CalTech talk: There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom, a theme he returned to in his 1984 Idiosyncratic Thinking seminar talk Tiny Machines. The theme was elaborated on by Dr. Eric Drexler in his 1986 book Creation Machines – The Coming Era of Nanotechnology.. The powerful vision is that super-tiny systems, including powerful nano-computers, may be synthesized by assembling molecules vs. fabricated in huge and complex factories as are microchips. It is envisioned that the resulting nano-computers could possibly be smaller than most human cells, trillions or more could be assembled possibly inexpensively again and again and their operation would require a tiny fraction of the space and energy demanded by today's computers. To appreciate the potential, each of us humans as United Cells is composed of an estimated 30 trillion or more various cells, each with its sub-systems. It may help to visualize an apple, which has an estimated 50 million or more cells and requires relatively small amounts of energy to create by a tree. Amazingly the apple “manufacturing process” is succinctly described and controlled by a few millimeter size “ordinary” system: the seed, which can produce an apple tree and it in turn many apples yearly with their seeds. We may in the future regard trillions of nano-computers similarly to common things like apples, potatoes. Such constellations may provide an unprecedented magnitude of computational power and could possibly sustain perhaps permanent highly realistic feature rich simulated worlds with their beings. Noteworthy that such synthetic worlds are created ex-nihilo, out of no matter, only from the thoughts of the programmers encapsulated in programs and their dynamics, which do the actual creation. Highly imaginative Polish writer of fantasy, Slanislaw Lem, wrote a collection of entertaining short stories, much like medieval fables, published in his book Cyberiad (1960s) about the adventures and misadventures of two non-unionized and superbly independent cosmic constructors Trurl and Klapaucius who were robots and a credit to their race. It's worth reading the story The Seventh Sally as a case study in simulated worlds. It describes Trurl creating a very small simulated world with even smaller simulated beings and irresponsibly presenting it with noble intent to a cosmic despot with unexpected consequences. One interesting question is What do we Jews learn from the Creator for the time when we are destined to become creators? For example, would we provide them with a guidebook like the Torah regulating their lives or let them create their own guiding frameworks? Would we instruct them to pray and bring sacrifices to us? Would we mete out punishments if they would fail to worship us or follow our guidance? Would we create some type of souls devoid of matter in the constructed world and what would their role and dynamics be like? Would such synthetic souls outlive synthetic beings? Some may mistakenly think it is sacrilege to even contemplate such matters. The highly respected Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik wrote otherwise is his book Halakhic Man. According to him it is not accidental that the Torah starts with relating the history of Creation. It could have started many different ways with other important themes. According to Rabbi Soloveitchik Creation is not just the first topic in the Torah, but is the first and thus possibly most important lesson and commandment. He wrote: “Man is obliged to engage in creation and renewal of the cosmos.” “This wondrous spectacle of the creation of worlds is the Jewish people’s escatological vision, the realization of all its hopes.” “The peak of religious ethical perfection to which Judaism aspires is man as creator.” Possibly it is soon our turn and responsibility to create worlds. Worth reflecting on this, especially around Rosh Hashanah.