If\non one hand work is in progress to enhance human capabilities using\ntechnologies that intervene deeply within the body\u2014at the level of genes and\nneurons\u2014on the other hand, we must recognize the risk that humanity will no\nlonger have its hands on the levers of technological power. The desire for\n\u201canthropomorphic robotics,\u201d whereby the rapid progress in the digital world has\nproduced so-called \u201cartificial intelligence,\u201d reveals the lack of clarity in\nthese uncharted areas in which we find ourselves\u2014we are completely unprepared\nfor the extraordinary power of the technology, even though it is product of\nhuman desire and intelligence. The human\ncondition is to be both historically conditioned and also entrusted to one\u2019s\nown resources in a conscious and responsible way. Even though man cannot control his own\nreality, he is nevertheless called to be concerned for it, in his own interest\nand for the sake of others, using the tools that he himself can invent and\nuse. This understanding shows us what\nour task is. To ensure that technology\nis human, we must be human ourselves. \nAnd to be human we must maintain the control exercised by human\nintelligence\u2014and by human consciousness, sensitivity, analysis and decision –\nover the essence of humanity. To avoid \u201ca\nFaustian bargain\u201d coming out of our technological handiwork, we must be\ndetermined not to \u201csell our souls\u201d\u2014not even to gain bodily immortality, because\nour bodies without our souls, no matter how beautiful and efficient, would be\nhorrible monsters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\nthis regard, we are truly aware of the fact that in this new borderland it is\nthe technology leaders who send us strong and relevant signals about the need\nfor anthropological reflection and ethical reasoning that are equal to the\nchallenge. Algorithms are not as\ngovernable as previously thought, because they are not at all as reasonable as\nthought or as anchored in a human body, which is an indispensable condition for\nhuman mental functions, as the cognitive sciences tell us clearly, when\ninterpreted in a non-reductionist way. \nThe management of big data is not just a valuable accumulation of\ninformation that, properly processed, flows for the benefit of everyone. It is also a corruptible collection of\ncorrelations that do not know us, and therefore exclude us. We still know very little about the psychic\nremodeling produced by new technologies that intervene at genetic,\nreproductive, neuronal and organic levels (We have scarcely begun to analyze\nthe consequences for language, relationships, affections and anguish of the\npervasive use of smartphones, but we are aware that they can produce results\nanalogous to those of psychotropic drugs). \nNot to mention the effects of social selection and exclusion, of the\norganization of labor and the economy, the transformation of the structures of\neducation and socialization, of the formation of ethical and political\nconsensus, of the humanization of activities of personal care mediation, of\nlearning processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\nare therefore grateful for the intellectual loyalty of the many experts who\ntell us with seriousness and with appropriate concern about the need to jolt\nour conscience and sense of responsibility to strengthen the resources of soul\nrequired by the force of this challenge\u2014directing the extraordinary resources\nof human intelligence, created by God precisely for this purpose, to the\nregulation of technology for the good of the entire polis<\/em> (Plato rightly\nsays that the art of human government of human capabilities is the basilik\u00e9\ntechn\u00e9<\/em>, the royal skill that draws on the wisdom of the soul, not on wealth\nor war, and makes us the \u201clords\u201d and not the \u201cslaves\u201d of all other\nskills). This is precisely the uniquely\nhuman task of reason and sensitivity. No\nmachine, however sophisticated in simulating and enhancing the capacity for\ncalculation and for perceiving reality, can take on this task. And it is only our descendants who will\ninherit our human capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2.\nA new alliance between humanism and technology<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even\nas we express our admiration for the sensitivity that technologists themselves\nshow towards the problem we are facing, we also accept the implicit\u2014but often\nalso explicit\u2014appeal to a new alliance between humanism and technology (which\nis also new, of course). The categories\nand notions, though worthy of respect, that we have acquired and refined in the\npast are no longer adequate. At the same\ntime, we are led to a passionate questioning of the legacy of history and of\nhuman wisdom, because human competence is formed in a human context. Behind the vicissitudes of language and\ntheories, human competence about humanity is transmitted from generation to\ngeneration. The tools of culture are\ndifferent, but the humanity of history is something that is shared. Roles are different but affections are\nshared. Keeping one\u2019s word and the\nrightness of caring for one\u2019s children are, always and forever, simply\nhuman. Their violation is a disgrace\nthat only humans can understand and suffer. \nNo cognition, no evaluation, no decision, on this, can be inherited by a\nmachine, calculated by an algorithm, or produced by genetics. Replacing our senses makes no sense if we\nthink that by doing so, we can entrust to machines the human dimension of\nsensitivity and the logic of our deepest and dearest affections. There are not, and should not be, machines\nfor prayer and for invocation, for gift and forgiveness, for happiness and\nhuman compassion. The many, ineffable,\ninalienable, parts of humanity that technology has no right to inherit must\nlearn to understand each other and live\u2014individually and societally\u2014in a state\nof lordship over the instrumental mediation exercised by algorithms and\nmachines. Without hesitation or disrespect,\nwithout subjection, without contempt. We will be neither apocalyptic nor\ncomplaisant. We could, of course, become\nso if we think we must compete with instruments that our intelligence and our\ncreativity have produced, or is we think we must yield to them, instead of\ngiving them their proper place. The\ninventors of machines are, even if they forget it, human. The users of machines and the lords of their\nservices are human, even when they let themselves be deceived and renounce the\ndignity of their nature. We will not\ncompare ourselves with machines, no matter how much they resemble us, or let\nthem frighten or confuse us. We will\nreason with other humans, about machines and not with machines, but we will\nalways find appropriate and prudent ways to work with machines. And we won\u2019t forget the wise and very human\nprinciple that believers follow in order to avoid creating wars of religion\namong humans with respect to the insidious powers of every kind struggle for their\nsouls: \u201cFor our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the\nprincipalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present\ndarkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens.\u201d (Eph. 6:12). To be up to this challenge, and reestablish\nthe mental and social framework of a \u201cnoble\u201d and \u201cshared\u201d humanism, the witness\nof our faith, according to which the world, with all its resources and\npossibilities, is entrusted to the sensibility and to the intellect of love of\nman and woman, in order that they can increase its resources and transmit its\nriches from generation to generation, relies heavily on the word of faith\nregarding our final destiny. We believe\nfirmly that the grace of the lordship of Jesus Christ, dead and risen, in whom\nall things were created, opens the way to a resurrected creation, in which our\nstruggle against the powers that work to subjugate humanity and corrupt the\nearth, will be redeemed, honored, and joyfully given peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\nis precisely here that the responsible commitment of our intelligence and our\nhuman sensibility is rooted, whose purpose, from the beginning, is to guarantee\nfor the whole community of peoples a protection of human life that is worthy of\nits human quality. By its nature, human\nlife is worthy of this passion and compassion, from its beginning to its end,\nhowever vulnerable and fallible, wounded and degraded. Technology that puts itself at the service of\nthe care for life, refusing to discard it when it does not meet standards of\nefficiency and wellbeing decided by a machine, is a real blessing. When\ntechnology takes power, with our passive complicity, we ourselves become\nresponsible for the loss of that blessing. \nWe must be lords of technology, at the service of life; and not masters\nof life, subject to technology. This is\nthe covenant that we must seal. The\ncomplexity of this discernment is certainly real. It requires a period of careful and open\nlistening and critical understanding of the phenomena that surround us. The tools that we have are, all in all, not\nvery sophisticated or dependable. \nScientific research is an irreplaceable part of this covenant. The hidden pitfall in new technological\nresources is the great extent of their invisibility. They cannot be perceived\nphysically or mentally by individuals or by the community. They are not large and impressive\nmachines. They are virtual relationships\nand the results of calculations. Even\nbefore they establish connections between humans, these devices connect with\neach other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Artificial intelligences, algorithms that can learn, so-called machine learning, and other cognitive computer systems are the vehicles of this revolution.\u00a0 These systems are spreading more and more to every area of our life as in the past steam and electricity changed the way we carried out all our activities. For this reason, closely connected with this meeting, artificial intelligence will be the theme of next year’s workshop.\u00a0 We want to approach this new frontier forcefully and passionately, with as much wide cooperation as possible.\u00a0 To honor, with science and conscience, the task that has been authoritatively entrusted to us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.vincenzopaglia.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/cq5dam.web_.1280.1280-1-260x173.jpeg?resize=260%2C173\")
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