From: Lyle Burkhead (LYBRHED@delphi.com)
Date: Sat Nov 30 1996 - 02:00:41 MST
Chris Hind writes,
> I was discussing the possibilities of nanotech with my father
> when the idea came to my mother that in "The Book of Revelation"
> in the Bible it says something to the effect of "People will search
> for death but death will flee from them" and she contributed that
> factor to nanotech.
Do you mean attributed? Anyway, to continue -
> She's anti-nano now and shes already spread the meme to a few others
> and even worse is the fact that she's the leader of a church fellowship!
> Aughhh!! She better not spread that meme any further.
> Memes like this will continue to develop and we MUST STOP THEM
> by throwing out counter memes.
Calm down, Chris...
Here is a counter-meme:
The book of Revelation describes upheavals which sound very much
like Artificial Life running amok. It's a kind of grey goo scenario.
There is something called, in Greek, "therion." This is usually
translated "beast," which is a valid translation, but there are other
possible translations: it could be translated "monstrous life form"
or "artificial organism" or even "advanced being." It is an unnatural,
destructive creature of some kind. Just as the grey goo threatens to
destroy everything, Christ overcomes the beast and establishes the
New Jerusalem, which is described as a huge crystal.
Now, let's connect this with another idea: The church taken as a whole
is supposed to be the body of Christ. Becoming a Christian is like
being possessed. You become a new person, and you no longer have
a will of your own; you turn your will over to God. The collection
of all such persons acts together as one huge superorganism, in which
Christ is the head (i.e. the mind, the part that makes decisions),
and each Christian is like a finger, or some other body part. I'm not
making this up, it's standard New Testament doctrine.
So, the collection of all Christians *is* the body of Christ. Therefore
when it says "Christ" does something, it actually means the church
does something. In other words, the church is supposed to play an
active role in the Apocalypse. You have, on the one hand, the "beast,"
and on the other, the body of Christ; they are both artificial organisms,
and they both use nano, but one is entropic and the other is extropic.
The true church is the church that will make the Apocalypse happen,
and create the New Jerusalem, as described in Revelation 21.
Once THAT meme gets started, there is no stopping it.
Lyle
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