Dear Reader,

In this newsletter, I want to address something that has been on my mind...and maybe yours, for some time. In a word..."transcentientis." Now, I know you may never have heard this word before, but having come to it in my musings, I looked it up, and though it does not exist in the dictionary, the roots of it do. Transcentientis! Just that and a definition that ties in with past newsletters and becomes the basis for this one.

Recall that 7 months ago in the newsletter titled, Contact...and the Arrow of Time, I touched on quantum superposition and entanglement, both states where time does not exist in the classical sense but nonetheless manifest in modern technology where silicon is the major constituent of digital technology. Recall also that in the newsletter titled Aspen Literary Festival...a rational take, I talked about our point of being embedded in the fabric of time, the underlying theme of my science fiction trilogy. Why is this important? Because it's about who we are, where we come from, and where we are going as human beings, and not just in the quantum or physical sense, but in the spiritual sense.

So, back to transcentientis, its etymology, and what I gleaned from the search: A state of being conscious beyond ordinary limits, or a layer of awareness/sentience that transcends traditional physical or biological boundaries, including the next layer of intelligence. Pretty much the meaning I was looking for when the term formed in my thoughts. In the newsletter archive at https://kendall-williams-author.kit.com/posts you will find a progression of newsletters dealing with the emergence of human intelligence and technology up to the present, where that which we have created finds us in a crisis of intelligence. A crisis of our own making. Between science and the human spirit! But why?

​John Charlton Polkinghorne was an English theoretical physicist and theologian, and a prominent leading voice explaining the relationship between science and religion. He was professor of mathematical physics at the University of Cambridge from 1968 to 1979, when he resigned his chair to study for the priesthood. To paraphrase, he described his position as critical realism and believed that science and religion address aspects of the same reality. He suggested that the mechanistic explanations of the world should be replaced by an understanding that most of nature is cloud-like rather than clock-like and that mind, soul, and body are different aspects of the same underlying reality. That there is only one stuff in the world, but that it can occur in two contrasting states.

You could do worse than reading Quantum Physics and Theology: An Unexpected Kinship, by John Polkinghorne, one of his 26 books on the subject. So, the question: How do the common characteristics of all religions align with the principles of quantum reality? Just as a believer trusts in an underlying spiritual architecture, a physicist relies on an unobservable quantum realm that dictates physical reality. Both require faith, but tell you what, let's travel to the "Crisis Conference" in book 1 of my trilogy. The theme of the conference is The Western Mind: Crisis or Opportunity? Jason, our protagonist, is on stage with Arkan, the alien, and a panel of experts before the audience. The controversy over science versus religion comes up. The physicist on the panel responds to Arkan: “Um, if I may…” said Dr. Weiss, “are you saying that my ‘binary choice dilemma’ is a false one?”

“No, only that the choice may not be a real choice.”

“I’m not following you.”

“Because in your binary choice dilemma both choices may be the same thing.”

“How so?”

“Because they both think they are right.”

“Ah, and there is something else…”

“Of course, you said it yourself, you said, ‘or is it somewhere else altogether.’ ”

“I did say that,” agreed Weiss.

“But it was about a question of right or wrong, correct?”

“Correct.”

“And it was about whether something could be proved or not and yet must be believed if someone was going to be right, correct?”

“I think you would have to say that.”

“Yet for the one it was about a thought and for the other it was about a feeling.”

“And if the subject was despair,” spoke up theologian Emily Spark, “then feeling, the heart, was going in the right direction...towards the soul...towards experiencing it?”

“You're almost there.”

“Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto God, that which belongs to God?”

“It is a way of saying it, a famous parable, is it not?”

Jason steps in. “It’s about thought versus experience...render unto the thinker his thoughts, and unto the divine your faith. Is that it?”

“A metaphor of sorts, but I would like to speak directly to Emily. Emily, when you speak of God, do you think that you and I hold the same image?”

She thought about it, then proceeded cautiously. “I may want it...want you to see...him as I do...but you may not...probably do not, but you must feel something?”

Remember, Arkan is the artificial intelligence of the Ark. So maybe in our more contemporary sense: Render unto AI that which is AI's and unto humanity that which belongs to humans. Which brings us back to that word, transcentientis: A state of being conscious beyond ordinary limits, or a layer of awareness/sentience that transcends traditional physical or biological boundaries, including the next layer of intelligence. A binary choice between who we are as spiritual beings and the technology we have created. And if that next layer of intelligence, AI and our devices, implanted or otherwise, blended with our humanity becomes our state of being, then that is our dilemma, the point when we all become transcentientists and must grapple with who we are in a way humanity has never had to before. Is that our new point of being, or can a strong dose of humility and the confluence of faith and quantum reality offer a new form of hope? Or sliding into darker territory: If transcentientis means AI overrides human free will, or supplants a child's natural emotions, it risks what C.S. Lewis called "the abolition of man." If AI comes to dominate, the child in us ceases to be and instead becomes a manufactured artifact.

But on the brighter side, with faith on the horizon...and where we come from, our point of being, uppermost in mind...there is hope for the future.

Stay tuned, more to come...much more...

Thoughts on my use of AI: I use it as an enhanced research tool to inform my own thoughts and to create the images you see in the newsletters. But ceding control over my own view of things, my own experiences, or my humanity to it? Well, that's the challenge, isn't it...the challenge for all of us, so I hope you will see these newsletters as exercises in creative and prudent use of AI, and as I have said before, and still abide by, I will never use AI to write my novels.

Immerse yourself with Jason in the incomprehensible artificial intelligence calling itself Arkan, come from interstellar space, along with all humanity, as he grapples with what it means to be human. Find the books at: kendallwilliamsauthor.com.

Want to contact me? Just click reply.

Quote from C.S. Lewis: “What do people mean when they say, 'I am not afraid of God because I know He is good'? Have they never even been to a dentist?”

Until next time, be well and safe journeys.

Sincerely,

Kendall Williams, Author

​kendallwilliamsauthor.com​

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