Most everybody supports Freedom of Religion, which protects your right to worship the religion of your choice or none-at-all. That assumes you worship something theological, but you are also free to worship other things, even other people. I suppose you can also worship a tree or a rock? There was one Dutch painter who boasted that he worshiped only beauty, however defined. Of course, under capitalism, it should not be surprising that a large number of people worship technology “for the efficiency it brings.” Bring on the artificial intelligence (AI) . . . the recipe for a cancer cure, as well as peace-on-earth!

A former speechwriter for President Reagan, Peggy Noonan is an opinion writer for The Wall Street Journal and has long been one of my favorite conservative writers. Her column on page A15 of the December 2nd edition was particularly interesting.

Quoting from her column: “What is more urgently disturbing to me is that if America speeds forward with AI, it is putting the fate of humanity in the hands of the men and women of Silicon Valley, who invented the internet as it is, including all the sludge. They’re some new kind of human, brilliant in a deep yet narrow way, prattling on and on about connection and compassion but cold at the core. (emphasis added) They seem apart from the great faiths of past millennia, apart from traditional moral and ethical systems or assumptions about life . . .” Nothing should be allowed to stand in the way of increased efficiency! Would we trade 99% of our privacy for a 1% longer lifespan?

She concludes with “We are putting the fate of humanity in the hands of people not capable of holding it. We have to focus as if this is Y2K, only real.”

Amen, Peggy!