The De-Singularity of the Church

Singularity (AKA: Artificial Intelligence) is the creation of technology beyond human intelligence.  Yeah kinda like the fictional “Sky Net” in the Terminator series with John Conner.  It’s the idea that somehow, some way technology will evolve both naturally and intentionally to the point that it is smarter than human intelligence.  This is way beyond a faster iPhone, or a jacked-up, screaming computer running on 10G in 2015.  The Singularity Institute notes:              

Vernor Vinge originally coined the term "Singularity" in observing that, just as our model of physics breaks down when it tries to model the singularity at the center of a black hole, our model of the world breaks down when it tries to model a future that contains entities smarter than human.                                                                        
Human intelligence is the foundation of human technology; all technology is ultimately the product of intelligence. If technology can turn around and enhance intelligence, this closes the loop, creating a positive feedback effect. Smarter minds will be more effective at building still smarter minds. This loop appears most clearly in the example of an Artificial Intelligence improving its own source code, but it would also arise, albeit initially on a slower timescale, from humans with direct brain-computer interfaces creating the next generation of brain-computer interfaces, or biologically augmented humans working on an Artificial Intelligence project.                                                                                                  

Okay so you don’t have to wander very far to see how this could be a catastrophe in the wrong hands. Kinda like Sky Net when the “machines” took over in the Terminator movie, but not as devastating at first. It would start slow. Think about this evolution with something as simple as the telephone: in my lifetime we’ve gone from a party-line phone with no dialer, to rotary dialed phones, push button Trim-lines, to bag cell phones, to car mounted phones, to Blue Tooth ear pieces, to the iPhone and hands-free in the dash of your car and sunglasses that connect to your phone so you can talk while you are jogging!  Sarah the operator on the Andy Griffith show wouldn’t believe it. 
                                                                                                                                                                    I remember  in the 90’s when semotician, futurist and theologian Len Sweet wondered aloud at a conference about Dolly, the first cloned sheep [my paraphrase]:  “And if they’ve done this with sheep and told us about it, what are they doing with the science that they aren’t telling us?”  At that time Len’s point was that while science hurried to clone an animal no one bothered to ask the ethical question:  Should we do it?  I’ll leave the ethical questions and further treatment of singularity to those with a faster and bigger cerebral cortex than me.  
                                                                                                                                                               The church seems to have bought into singularity.  We don’t even know it.  Before you call me a naysayer let me state right up front that I love technology and I love the ways it has helped us better communicate and connect the Gospel.  But what if we “unplugged” for a season?  Instead of multi-campuses piping in a pastor from afar with holographic technology, and slick computer presenter programs, videos and lights, music and dress that looks and sounds no different than the hottest bar in town----what if we just sat down with people and shared the Gospel?  What if we actually got to know each other personally and shared out of our experience with one another?  What if we took the time to converse face to face?  What if we simply let the Word of God speak?How many ways can we “beef up,” or “enhance,” the age old, simple, life-changing, transforming story of the Gospel to make it “fresh” for the culture?  Maybe the culture isn’t as impressed with all of it as we are because they see it every day online and in the workplace.  I’m speaking to myself as much as anyone else, so don’t bug out and say this is an indictment on a single church, denomination, or para-church ministry.  No, I’m not advocating a return to overhead projectors or hymnals and no slight intended to those who currently use them.  I’m also trying to lift our heads beyond a discussion of singularity in worship.
                                                                                                                                                                How can we deconstruct the complicated layers we’ve built to simply be the eyes, ears, hands and feet of Jesus in a way that is different and sticks out from the rest of the crowd?   Maybe we need to simply find an upper room, get on our knees and let the Holy Spirit empower us and lead the way.  Oddly, that single act of devotion and commitment (Acts 1-2) to do exactly what Jesus commanded before His ascension expanded the Kingdom of God by 3,000 additional souls that day.  Of course they didn’t have multiple locations, a website, band, lights, computers, drama, Live IMAG and podcasts, but they did have the Gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit.  Sounds profoundly simple to me.