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This is a thought experiment aimed to aid me to prepare for the Messianic times:

We know, that the European colonizers of America were seen by the natives as "sons of gods" because of the technology they possessed.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Clarke's Third Law

So one day, allegedly, the Earth will be filled with "knowledge of G-d". On the other hand, technologically, one day the Earth will be filled with "knowledge of AI".

How the true experience of God in the Messianic times would be significant;y different from any experience of a virtual AI? In other words, how would one know, that he experiences God and not (extraterrestrial) AI (aka Turing_test)?

Al Berko
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    I was waiting for the PTIJ tag, but it didn't come. – chortkov2 Jun 27 '19 at 13:35
  • Interesting thought experiment. But, I am unclear about the parameters of the scenario. For example: is there still an individual experience in the real world, or are we connected into a kind of online hive-mind? And on a more meta-level: how would we answer your question outside of AI. E.g. if someone came up to us now and told us this? – RonP Jun 27 '19 at 13:36
  • @RonP Thanks for saving me. You're absolutely right that eventually, we'll lose the sense of "true reality", and could only trust our senses, but it is not different from current optical illusions - you may see things that don't exist or hear voices that nobody hears. But is it different from what the Israelis saw at the Red sea or Mt Sinai? DId they see G-d or really imagined G-d? – Al Berko Jun 27 '19 at 13:41
  • @chortkov2 Inability to answer such a simple question undermines our claims of the ability to know Hashem, I think. – Al Berko Jun 27 '19 at 13:43
  • God ceased long ago to clearly appear to prophets by day. So it is unlikely that voice or vision is God. But who are we to say if He will change his behavior in those days. Where will we find sources to answer what will be in the times of Moschiach and global AI? Any answer can only be conjecture which, as you know, is not the spirit and letter of this site – mbloch Jun 27 '19 at 13:55
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    Too much Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal? – user6591 Jun 27 '19 at 14:02
  • @AlBerko How did Hashem 'prove' himself before klal yisrael? If we take the events surrounding mitsiat mitsrayim and mount sinai as a standard, then that would leave us with finding the closest parallel in the fictional AI-world. What would be considered miraculous in that world. For example: in the movie The Matrix, people inside the computer-world could not change the world. The world felt like our irl world. Making a wall dissapear was only possible by the AI (god of that digital world so to say). How do you imagine your AI-world? – RonP Jun 27 '19 at 14:05
  • @RonP (as I'm the OP you don't have to add @me). In the past, everything was attributed to G-d (or to G-d's miraculous providence). Turned out most of it wasn't. We could find ourselves in The Matrix one day. But, as for the Turing test, I can't find a test to tell Ai from G-d. It seems that any sufficiently advanced AI (incl. alien) may seem comparable to G-d. That baffles me. – Al Berko Jun 27 '19 at 14:45
  • @mbloch You wrote, "But who are we to say if He will change his behavior in those days." But G-d is not a man to change His mind. The Rambam said that we should not expect anything miraculous to occur in those days, except that the Jews would live freely in the land of Israel, and all the Gentiles would convert to Judaism if that makes sense. The Messiah (whoever he will be) will be but a man. In the same vein, it follows that we can not expect any change in behavior in the future. G-d will remain the same and will continue to do so long after the Messianic age entered the annals of history. – Turk Hill Jun 27 '19 at 16:58
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    I'm voting to close this question as unclear. What kind of AI are you talking about here? What does it mean for your senses to be "connected/interacted" with it? – Daniel Jun 27 '19 at 17:27
  • @TurkHill and all Jews living in Israel and all gentiles would convert is not a miracle? :-> my point was we don't have sources telling us what will really happen. Any question on scenarios in the age of Mashiach is speculation. This site is not good at speculation. Kol tuv – mbloch Jun 27 '19 at 18:05
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    Related: https://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/11546/13438 – Alex Jun 27 '19 at 18:18
  • @Alex Oh, you mean G-d and not an alien or AI? Kidding :) – Al Berko Jun 27 '19 at 22:33
  • Does this answer your question? How and when does a prophet know that it's God who's speaking to him? – Alex Dec 22 '19 at 16:42
  • See discussion with Rabbi Steinzoltz zt”l and Ray Kurzweil (it’s a YouTube video) – Dr. Shmuel Oct 19 '20 at 00:50
  • @Dr.Shmuel Thank you. It says "a dialog" but I don't see any :). – Al Berko Oct 19 '20 at 15:55

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This sounds like something only Elon Musk would be concerned. In Judaism, we are obligated to rely on our senses, not magic or false prophets. It is with the help of our faculty and abilities that we should determine that the voice in question (in any given conversation) is simply an act of AI, and not a divine agency. This is because the brain perceives information which is transferred to the eyes and shifted into vision, in relation to light and a physical object. That is to say, information entering the brain is interpreted as color, texture, size, etc. We are, in essence, a mechanical machine. Consider an advanced computer system with all its wires which would employ a binary code, which is measurable in fixed numerical quantities, operating in a range of complex system. This is how the human body was designed. So in the near future, it is possible that virtual reality could mingle both realities to the point of incomprehensibility. Our reliability to reality would be variable, liable to change to any pattern of events as in the movie matrix. Which begs the question. How can we be sure that we are not deceived or fooled into believing anything?

In his Guide, the Rambam gives a clear answer to this rule. Since G-d does not involve Himself in human affairs, that is, G-d established the laws of nature at the beginning and does not need a step into history, it follows that G-d never spoke to anyone. And since the angels are a force of nature, not divine (agentic creatures with wings and blond hair), but the will of a deity, we can be sure that the voice stemming is a computer-generated replica of the human vocal cords. Rest assured, in this pretext, the voice does not come from G-d, because G-d does not have a mouth to speak to prophets or to man. Refer to Maimonides' view on prophecy.

Turk Hill
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  • Thank you for taking this Q. seriously. In your understanding of Rambam, we will never experience G-d in the way the Israelis experienced at the Red sea or Mt. Sinai or like numerous prophets saw Him? – Al Berko Jun 27 '19 at 17:24
  • Well, according to my understanding of the Rambam, G-d does not interfere in the natural world. That is to say, the spilt of the Sea of Reeds was a natural event as depicted in Ridley Scott's "Exodus" (save the scene where Hollywood decides to put Moshe with pharaoh in front of a tsunami), and not the move Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston. That is to say that G-d employed the laws of nature to do this in the beginning, so we can still attribute the event to G-d's doing. – Turk Hill Jun 27 '19 at 17:30
  • So we'll never have any kind of prophecy or visions. – Al Berko Jun 27 '19 at 17:31
  • Maimonides felt that prophecy was simply a higher level of intelligence, save Moshe. I personally believe the revelation at Sinai was miraculous, although some speculate whether the Rambam did himself which is debatable. – Turk Hill Jun 27 '19 at 17:32
  • I do not think we will see any more prophecy or visions in the future. I agree with Maimonides that prophecy is higher intelligence and not necessarily a divine agency at work. Maimonides felt that even angels in the Torah were either a vision or a dream. – Turk Hill Jun 27 '19 at 17:35