“You [God] say: “When I set a time, I judge with fairness. When the earth and all its inhabitants were dissolved, It was I who kept its pillars firm.” (Psalm 75: 3-4)

If earth and all its inhabitants are being dissolved now, in what way is God keeping its pillars firm? Might that be adapted to how the earthly organization endeavors to hold fast to His standards despite pressure?

A fine warning not to boast:

“I say to the boastful, “Do not boast,” And to the wicked, “Do not exalt your strength. Do not exalt your strength up high Or speak with arrogance.” (vs 4-5)

How do the two thoughts connect? Is “earth and all inhabitants” dissolved when and because its key backers give in to their unrestrained boasting over what they can do?

Below is a fine bit of modesty that generally goes unheeded in human history: Musk/Wozniak/Yang and a panel of others urge a 6-month moratorium on AI development, allowing a little time to figure out what its long-term consequences will be.

From their open letter of March 2023.

“Advanced AI could represent a profound change in the history of life on Earth, and should be planned for and managed with commensurate care and resources. Unfortunately, this level of planning and management is not happening, even though recent months have seen AI labs locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one – not even their creators – can understand, predict, or reliably control.”

“… Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth? Should we automate away all the jobs, including the fulfilling ones? Should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us? Should we risk loss of control of our civilization?”

Why do I think of that tower of Babel passage:

“Then Jehovah went down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men had built. Jehovah then said: “Look! They are one people with one language, and this is what they have started to do. Now there is nothing that they may have in mind to do that will be impossible for them. Come! Let us go down there and confuse their language in order that they may not understand one another’s language.” So Jehovah scattered them from there over the entire face of the earth, and they gradually left off building the city. (Genesis 11:5-8)

It’s as though he says, ‘Whoa! This isn’t supposed to happen so soon. The experiment needs time to play out. Best mess them up a little bit. But as the doomed experiment of human self-rule nears its end, it won’t be that way.’

And back to the psalm:

“[God] puts one man down and exalts another. For there is a cup in Jehovah’s hand; The wine is foaming and is fully mixed. He will surely pour it out, And all the wicked of the earth will drink it, down to the dregs.” But as for me, I will proclaim it forever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. For he says: “I will cut off all the strength of the wicked, But the strength of the righteous will be exalted.” (7-10)

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