At long last we might have discovered a way of putting intelligence into religion. Not human intelligence unfortunately - that's probably still a couple of millennia away - no, it's artificial intelligence (AI) via ChatGPT.
In the article the writer asked ChatGPT to come up with 10 commandments (it came up with 11):
1. Thou shalt practice empathy and understanding.
2. Thou shalt cultivate gratitude.
3. Thou shalt be honest and truthful.
4. Thou shalt be kind and compassionate.
5. Thou shalt respect the autonomy of others.
6. Thou shalt practice forgiveness.
7. Thou shalt be humble and open to learning.
8. Thou shalt maintain a sense of humour.
9. Thou shalt be generous and giving.
10. Thou shalt strive for balance in life.
11. Thou shalt be a steward
This looks much better than the 'original' commandments which show a lot of egocentricity from a mythical slavemaster:
1. I am the LORD your God: you shall not have strange Gods before me.
2. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
3. Remember to keep holy the LORD'S Day.
4. Honour your father and your mother.
5. You shall not kill.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
9. You shall not covet your neighbour's wife.
10. You shall not covet your neighbour's goods.
That stuff (the Catholic version) I've always had a problem with, even from when I was a schoolkid and the nuns were forcing it on me. I thought that god was a bit pushy and certainly didn't fancy old Mrs Thomas from next door.
I prefer the AI version. Ironically it has more 'humanity' in it.
* Quotation from US broadcaster Herbert Morrison (1905-1989) during his coverage of the Hindenburg disaster."This is terrible; this is one of the worst of the worst catastrophes in the world. Oh it's... [unintelligible] its flames... Crashing, oh! oh, four or five hundred feet into the sky, and it's a terrific crash, ladies and gentlemen. There's smoke, and there's flames, now, and the frame is crashing to the ground, not quite to the mooring mast. Oh, the humanity, and all the passengers screaming around here!"
