The physical body is often referred to as the hardware in the field of AI, while the soul is likened to software. According to Genesis, God created Adam and Eve on the sixth day of creation. However, whether they were created with only hardware or if their software and data model were also pre-installed is unclear. Interestingly, Adam demonstrated language skills on his first day of existence, as he could converse with God and name all the animals before him. This feat is remarkable, given that machines like Alexa or Siri struggle to comprehend human language. Even tech giants such as Google, Apple, and Amazon have invested millions of dollars and years in development, yet they still encounter significant challenges.
Human language is not an isolated construct, unlike computer language. It is deeply rooted in real-world objects and their relationships and encompasses abstract thinking and human emotions. Using words like “you” and “me” requires self-awareness. Furthermore, words have associations that evoke an individual’s complex thoughts and emotions. For example, if I say “Christmas,” you will automatically associate it with the holidays, presents, and family gatherings.
The first recorded words of Adam in Genesis 2:23, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man,” require a deep understanding of what flesh and bone mean. A one-day-old man living in the perfect world of the Garden of Eden is unlikely to have seen bone before. Moreover, as the only person in the world, he does not yet have a concept of a “man.” This raises the question: how old would a human child need to be before saying a sentence like Adam’s? Additionally, since Eve was created on the same day as Adam, he would have had limited time to learn these concepts on his own.
“Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7)
It is possible to argue that God implanted a software and data model into Adam when He breathed into his nostrils. Would Adam be just a robot if this software was fully functional and included the entire data model? Although he may believe he has free will, it could be argued that everything he does is predetermined by God’s program. If this is the case, can we blame Adam for disobeying God, given that God’s programming determined his actions?
To address this issue, let’s assume that God only provided Adam with an essential software and data model. Adam and Eve then acquired new data and knowledge through unsupervised learning on the day of their creation. Although Adam and Eve were quick learners, it is important to remember that it takes time to develop self-awareness and consciousness. Even with God as their “super parent,” this process likely took more than twenty-four hours.
“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work” (Genesis 2:1)
If Adam and Eve did not develop the full capacity to love God freely by the end of the sixth day of creation, can we still say that creation was complete? In computer programming, random numbers are often used to simulate unpredictable human decisions and mask the robotic nature of the program. However, I do not believe that free will is a random action. It results from decision-making based on accumulated experience, which takes time to develop. As stated in the previous section, characters are not formed instantaneously but are developed gradually over time.
Therefore, God unlikely created humans who can love Him with their free will in twenty-four hours. It likely took more time for Adam and Eve to develop the necessary experience and consciousness to exercise their free will and make meaningful choices.
The analogy between Adam and a computer is simple, but it helps to illustrate the point that free will cannot be programmed. Developing self-awareness, consciousness, and free will takes time and cannot be installed like software. Building a character is a process that occurs over time, and even child psychology tells us that babies typically only develop self-awareness around 12 months old. If God created Adam and Eve in just one day, it would mean that all their language skills and character were built-in, leaving little room for free will.
An analogy is supposed to illustrate specific points; there is danger in reading too much into the analogy. I’m not suggesting humans are AI in the flesh, and I will address this issue in the next post.
The Book of Genesis is not intended to be a scientific textbook detailing the account of creation. God inspired various people to write the bible; it is inspiration from God, not dictation. Despite the significant scientific advancements in recent years, we still do not entirely understand how life emerges or how self-awareness arises. It is, therefore, understandable that the writer of Genesis, who lived in an era when scientific knowledge was limited, could not fully comprehend the act of creation and explain it in a way that would satisfy modern scientific standards. Francis Bacon, the seventeenth-century English philosopher, is considered to be the father of modern scientific methods. He once said, “God has, in fact, written two books, not just one. Of course, we are all familiar with the first book he wrote, namely Scripture. But he has written a second book called Creation.” These two books should not conflict with each other. Each book is supposed to be a supplement to the others. It is a mistake to interpret the works of God through the word of God.
The first chapter of Genesis is not a history book either; before Adam and Eve were created, there was no eyewitness to creation. The God that I believe is an almighty God. He can create a fully-grown human within twenty-four hours. Everything is possible with God, but I don’t believe God has chosen this path to create human beings. Ultimately, the key message of the creation story in Genesis is that God is the source of all life and that humans have a unique role to play in the divine plan. Rather than focusing on the scientific details of creation, Christians should reflect on the deeper spiritual meaning of this narrative and what it tells us about our place in the universe.
The interpretation of “day” in the biblical account of creation as an extended period is not new. Many biblical scholars and theologians have long recognized that the word “day” in the original Hebrew can have a more metaphorical or symbolic meaning rather than referring to a strict twenty-four-hour period.
The idea of a literal six-day creation period gained popularity as a response to the theory of evolution proposed by Charles Darwin in the 19th century. However, many Christians today recognize that evolution and faith are not necessarily in conflict and embrace a perspective known as theistic evolution.
Theistic evolution posits that God created the world and all living things through the natural process of evolution rather than through a series of supernatural interventions. This view allows for the possibility that the creation story in the Bible is a symbolic or metaphorical account rather than a literal history. This web site aims not to discuss the details of how God created the world. I do not think the details of how God created the world are essential to my arguments on how God interacts with the physical world. We should not fall into the trap of “God of the gaps,” where we use God to explain something we don’t understand today.