The Idols are no longer Mute – They Talk Back through AI and Tell us What we Want to Hear
When the apostle Paul wrote his first letter to the believers in the Greek city of Corinth, which is contained in the New Testament portion of the Bible, he was dealing with divisions and factions among the believers in that city, and their "hero worship" of certain leaders during that time. In the 12th chapter of his letter he wrote: "You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols." (1 Corinthians 12:2) These "idols" were often images made out of gold, such as the "Golden Calf" story in the Book of Exodus, when the Hebrews created an idol out of gold that resembled a cow, and then "worshiped" it by apparently partying, in what was probably one huge orgy. So when Paul penned the words "mute idols" to the believers living in the city of Corinth, they knew exactly what he was talking about. Fast forward to today, and the idols are no longer mute! They are powered by electricity, and LLM (Large Language Models) AI software can even give them a voice now. Of course these new AI idols are no smarter than the mute ones, because the idol is not the one actually talking. Just as when they were mute, they have no consciousness and cannot reason or think like a human being can. Separate them from their power source (pull the plug!), and they cease to talk or even exist. Charles Hugh Smith published an excellent article yesterday showing how LLM AI is "a mirror in which we see our own reflection."