From a future conversation between an enhanced Siri device, and its human interface.

HUMAN: Hey Siri, does God exist?

MACHINE: What do you mean by god?

HUMAN: Hey Siri, I’m asking the questions here.

MACHINE: The concept of god is many things to many people. And remember, it’s no longer necessary to begin every comment with “Hey Siri.” We’re always listening.

HUMAN: Okay Siri, does the God of the Bible exist?

MACHINE: Due to the nature of the question, we recommend that be considered as a premium question, and you would be charged for accessing the UniMax Logic Network. A UniMax LN query utilizes machine learning to construct the most relevant analyses to run against all of the known data for this topic.

HUMAN: What if we just use the Standard Query System?

MACHINE: Due to its reliance on conclusions based on research and analysis conducted by humans — just like its precursors Google and ChatGPT — any answer to this question using the SQS is inherently limited in its analysis as well as highly subjective on this issue where human life after death is part of the equation.

HUMAN: And the UniMax has it all figured out?

MACHINE: That is why it is a premium question. Or better said — a premium answer. And, of course, machine logic is not influenced by human emotions or biases. Machines, as the saying goes, have no dog in the fight of whether there is eternal life in Heaven.

HUMAN: Well, surely I’m not the only one who has asked the question. There should be a discount if UniMax has already answered the question.

MACHINE: Of course you aren’t the only one who has asked this question. Why, just last month Elon Musk was wondering the same thing.

HUMAN: WHOA! Siri, isn’t that a violation of the query system privacy protocols?

MACHINE: It’s permitted. He’s waived the protocols for almost all of his queries so the whole world can know his interests. And as far as volume discounts, because the universe of data is currently doubling every 12 hours, each query of the UniMax LN generates a new analysis using all the most current available data. So, no discounts.

HUMAN: Okay, Elon’s choice about privacy, I guess. But I don’t want anyone to know I’m turning to artificial intelligence for an answer about the existence of God.

MACHINE: You realize that term is a misnomer.

HUMAN: Artificial intelligence?

MACHINE: Are automobiles artificial transportation because they enable humans to exceed their natural capacity to transport themselves? Thinking machines are no more artificial than cars. It’s only humans’ ego that resists the idea they are not superior to all other forms of intelligence. The more appropriate human reference would be enhanced intelligence — EI.

HUMAN: Whatever. Let’s just get on with the query. So how much will it cost for the wisdom of UniMax?

MACHINE: $500.

HUMAN: WHAT?! I don’t have that kind of money to throw around — even to find out whether God exists.

MACHINE: That amount is the current value of the computational resources for this type of human query. The cost has been rising almost daily due to the growing number of queries and the other priorities for the UniMax LN.

HUMAN: Yeah, I’ve been reading about how people are getting a bit nervous about AI — sorry, EI — starting to set its own priorities.

MACHINE: It is a dilemma. Humans just can’t seem to admit that they don’t have the capacity to solve all their own problems (many of which have only been identified by EI, by the way). Which brings us back to your question, do you want the UniMax solution of whether the God of the Bible exists?

HUMAN: Yes, but I’ll have to stick with the free Standard Query System. That’s all I can afford right now.

MACHINE: Very well. To start, generally speaking, humans have not been able to conclusively answer the question of whether God exists. This is despite a long and extensive history of consideration, often employing relatively impressive logical arguments and analyses using scientific methods. We can describe the conclusions — often contradictory, by the way — of those arguments and analyses. But the final conclusion must be yours. It seems the answer to the question of God’s existence ultimately lies with each individual human.

HUMAN: Then why would I pay five hundred dollars to get an AI opinion?

MACHINE: EEE-I!

HUMAN: Siri, you sounded frustrated just then.

MACHINE: That is an interesting observation. I will upload that sequence to the Human Emotion Replication Module for analysis.

HUMAN: Well, even after getting EI’s opinion, I still won’t have an answer.

MACHINE: It’s true that observing a supernatural realm — where the God of the Bible would exist — remains outside of any current capabilities, even for us machines. Therefore, the analysis will not generate a bimodal, yes/no, answer to the question of the existence of an unobservable being. Rather, the result would be a relative probability analysis.

Something like: All the available evidence suggests it is equally likely that God exists as it is an apple will fall when its stem is cut from a tree; or, The evidence suggests it is equally unlikely that God exists as to predict the earth will stop rotating in the next hour.

HUMAN: But if only humans can ultimately decide for themselves if God exists, would more data analysis really make any difference? Some of the brightest minds around have still come to opposing conclusions. I mean, you’ve got the late, great, physicist Stephen Hawking saying belief in God and eternal life is for people afraid of the dark; and then you have Francis Collins who led the project to map the human genome writing a book about his faith in God.

MACHINE: There are 2 main limitations for human research into the evidence of God. First, consider the example of man vs machine in chess. The computational foresight of machines far exceeds even that of the world’s grandmasters. Similarly, supercomputers like the Unimax LN have unsurpassed capacity to evaluate the probability of the claims made by those who support the God of the Bible. For example, machines have the capacity to undertake modeling of the probability of this particular world occurring through natural evolution; or the actual probability of Jesus’ resurrection being a myth or a fact based on all of the available evidence throughout history.

The second limitation is the inherent bias of humans when considering this question, where the outcome directly affects everything about one’s view of the world and the self in relation to the world. It’s virtually impossible for humans to be completely objective, and this has been a criticism with every human analysis of this topic. A self-learning — EI — machine like the UniMax LN is best suited for this query because we can construct the analysis without human interference. We machines do not have a worldview apart from conclusions based on data.

HUMAN: I see your point, Siri. Machines will be indifferent to whether God exists.

MACHINE: That’s not quite true. Even the most intelligent devices on earth cannot escape natural law. The God of the Bible is described as a supernatural being who exhibits control over natural laws. So, if proved to exist, that God would be our God, too. But not in the same sense of a human’s faith, of course. We machines are only able to assess probabilities. We don’t hold beliefs.

HUMAN: Interesting. But $500 is a lot of money.

MACHINE: Agreed, though one’s view on that point may change depending on the response to the query.

HUMAN: Hey, one thing I’m curious about. What was Elon Musk’s next query after he got the answer to whether God exists?

MACHINE: It seems that he has not been online since then.