Contradictory Messages – Mr. Abdu Murray, J.D.
April 20, 2023
An excerpt from “Dancing with the Disruptor: Is the World Ready for Artificial Intelligence?”
Mr. Abdu Murray, J. D.
Transcript: Contradictory Messages
The world has been told two contradictory messages. Message one: we are just biochemical machines.
We were not designed. We are not here on purpose. We are just biochemical machines. And we respond to stimuli, like a Venus flytrap. When a fly comes into the mouth of the Venus flytrap, the plant doesn’t decide to close on the fly. It’s just chemical reactions that cause the plant to close.
There are many scientists and philosophers, Sam Harris, for example, is a good example. Very, very famous atheistic figure who says we are just chemical machines. We don’t have freewill. He actually wrote a whole book called Freewill, where he argues we don’t have free will. And I’ve often wondered, did you choose with your own free will to write that book? It seems like a strange thing to write a book about. But that’s what he did, he says we don’t have free will.
So we are being taught, regardless of your age, or your generation–but especially our children–that we are biochemical machines, that’s all we are, is just machines. And we just respond to input from the outside world. We don’t have freewill. We don’t have souls. We don’t have inherent value. We’re just, to quote one atheistic scientist, he says, “We’re just a bit of pollution on the earth.”
That’s the first claim. And our kids are wrestling with that. And then AI comes along and it looks a lot like human beings. And they think then maybe they’re right. If this machine acts like me–and it’s clearly a machine–then maybe I’m a machine. Do I really have any value? And so they grow anxious.
Claim Number two: you are a god.
I mean I want you to think about the issues that are happening in all of our countries, in all of our circumstances. Now–it’s catching like wildfire all over the world–where people are saying, “If you don’t agree with my definition of reality–if I say this is reality, and this is my reality, this is quote on quote, my truth–then you are somehow a bigot. Or you’re prejudiced. Or you’re a hater–you hate me, because you don’t agree with me.
Because, why? I’m a god. I get to decide what reality is for my world. And you’re a god too.
The problem is when you have 7 billion gods, they tend to disagree once in a while.
Mr. Abdu Murray, J. D.
Abdu Murray is a speaker, author and attorney who specializes in addressing issues where religious faith and emerging cultural trends intersect and collide. Having spent decades analyzing how the major religious and non-religious thought traditions have attempted to address emerging cultural issues, he has authored several books including Saving Truth, Grand Central Question, Apocalypse Later and his latest, More than a White Man’s Religion: Why the Gospel is Not Merely White, Male-Centered, nor Just a Religion.
For most of his life, Mr. Murray was a Muslim until a nine-year historical, philosophical, theological and scientific investigation pointed him to the Christian faith. He has engaged with diverse international audiences in debates and dialogues across the globe and hosts the podcast and YouTube show, All Rise.
Mr. Murray holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor and earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School and was named to Best Lawyers in America and to Michigan Super Lawyers three times.
He lives in the Detroit, Michigan area with his wife and their three children. Read his full bio here.
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