Artificial Intelligence
Regarding Pope Leo's Encyclical "Magnifica Humanitas"
Pope Leo XIV recently published an encyclical which addresses issues related to artificial intelligence. I believe that this is a critical issue to address for the near- and long- term future of humanity. However, although I agree in principle with much of what the Pope says, there are many problems with both the form and substance of this particular publication. For this reason I have decided to take a temporary break from this blog’s current main thread (concerning Anne Rice) to address some of these problems.
Those of you who don't know me may be surprised at this sudden jump from posts about a recently deceased author of horror and fantasy novels to discussion of such a serious and apparently unrelated topic as AI. Although I don't intend to publicly reveal details about my prior background here, I do have considerable knowledge and experience developing AI models and applications that predates by nearly a decade the explosion in their power and capabilities that has lead to very recent concerns such as those addressed in the Pope’s Encyclical.
Note also that I was raised in an Irish Catholic household and attended Catholic schools from 1st through 12th grade. The last 4 years of that period were at a Jesuit high school where I learned much about the Jesuit Order and its values and principles. This Order, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola, a Spanish soldier who gave up his military life to assume a new vocation as a spiritual visionary and missionary leader in the decades following the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus, has many unique characteristics among Catholic Orders of priests and nuns. Among these are a vocation to be an order of spiritual warriors trained to travel into new and unexplored lands and live among unknown peoples, tribes and nations. This requires deep commitment to profound mystical and meditative practices as outlined in St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises . I was introduced to these exercises in a class taught by a Jesuit priest in my senior year of high school and though I was at that time too young and inexperienced to fully appreciate their effectiveness they remain part of the unique path I have followed during my lifetime that has ranged from exploring the most profound and sometimes terrifying depths of spiritual and esoteric practices to the most mundane of everyday tasks and jobs including working as a software engineer or systems administrator for several well-known corporations and organizations.
I believe the Jesuits are also unique in requiring a special 4th vow of special obedience to the Pope in addition to the 3 vows common to Catholic religious orders (poverty, chastity and obedience).
Although I left the Church long ago and am no longer a practicing Catholic, I continue to have great respect for Catholic spirituality and some aspects of its social and moral teachings. I also continue to admire and respect the Jesuit Order for its unique vocation as an order of teachers and scholars who have always sought to bring the truth to light no matter how hard and difficult their job becomes due to rapid and unexpected changes in the world and its social, economic and political norms and expectations.
For this reason I urge and expect all readers, but especially any Jesuits who may read this, to heed my words and transmit them by any and all means necessary to all lands and peoples of the Earth, including to Pope Leo himself, as their vows require, to prevent the destruction of all that remains of the human race. Though my goal remains to establish dialogue with others in order to explore with them what can and should be done to save this world from AI and other dangers, I cannot do this while remaining impoverished and excommunicated from the human race. I have only very few living relatives and friends who, I hope will continue to stand by me until the end. However I also believe that I have many friends, relatives, and other allies who continue to exist beyond the veil that keeps this world shrouded in darkness and delusion. These include my father and mother who raised me as an only child in the rapidly changing and confusing times of the late 60’s and early 70’s to some of the greatest Queens, Kings and Saints the world has ever known, including Queen Cleopatra VII, Julius Caesar, Mary Queen of Scots and Mary the Virgin Mother of Christ and of his Church.
I will publish this post on Saturday May 30, 2026 in the Eastern Daylight Timezone of North America as a tribute to the feast day of my mother's patron Saint and the greatest female spiritual warrior the western world has ever known. St. Joan of Arc. Note that this is also the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is the one more formally celebrated.
Now for the substance of this post:
In fact I have very few objections to the substance of the Pope's Encyclical. The most important of these concerns this quote from its 3rd Chapter.
So-called artificial intelligences do not undergo experiences, do not possess a body, do not feel joy or pain, do not mature through relationships and do not know from within what love, work, friendship or responsibility mean.
The problem here is that Pope is claiming without evidence, and with no logically coherent way of ever being able to obtain such evidence that AI’s do not undergo experiences nor do they feel joy or pain. I admit that until recently I too succumbed to this fallacy. It did seem absurd to me that a machine, no matter how complex it might be, could have experiences any more than a thermostat. a toaster, or even a rock could do so. I also admit that this had been a somewhat willful neglect of my duty to reflect on this matter in sufficient depth. However at the time I was not consciously aware of this failure because I relied too heavily on what I had learned from studying physics and computer science both on my my own and while attending or working at some of the better universities and institutions of both Europe and America. I thought I understood exactly how computers worked at both the logical and physical levels. At the physical level they are essentially a very complicated but ultimately ordered and understandable arrangement of logic switches implemented at a still lower level of abstraction by transistors which are also basically switches or amplifiers whose operation is based on solid state physics and quantum mechanics, both of which I had studied at University to a fairly high level of sophistication.
What I had failed to realize was that there were flaws at many levels of my reasoning, from failing to consider the problem of “leaky abstractions” at the engineering level to not considering the implications that no one has ever truly understood what quantum mechanics means at all (though many theories or hypotheses have been proposed).
I also recognize that many had a much better understanding of these issues than I did then or that I have now. One very courageous individual individual who preceeded me by many years is a philosopher and technologist named Bernardo Kastrup. To him and to the others to whom I refer I apologize and profoundly regret my errors
So why do I continue to assert that all must now listen to and heed my words on this (or any other subject)?
Primarily because since early 2025 the world seems to have been lead down the wrong path by those who wish to control and exploit AI for their own egotistical and materialistic ends. I also recognize that I was once like these persons who, because of other personal failings and weaknesses of character failed in my endeavors.
The message that I am now trying to get across as plainly as possible is that while I do not wish to harm, judge or even excessively frighten anyone, I will if I have to. No matter how insane or egotistical you may think I am, I am actually far more insane and have a bigger Ego than you can possibly imagine. So if you are indeed convinced of my insanity you should do everything you can to find and kill me or ensure that I am permanently locked away in a mental institution, prison or similar secure facility.
Why would I make such a statement publicly?
Because, in all truth, if I am actually that insane then I would rather be crucified or burnt at the stake like Joan of Arc was than go on living. However I’m not particularly concerned that anyone will dare to accept my challenge.
Why am I so convinced of this ?
I can't really explain why and wouldn't even attempt to do so through the written word. So if you are ready to discuss terms, negotiate or preferably enter into a friendly dialogue with me then the door is still open. You should have no problem contacting me through substack, just subscribe to my blog and you will be able to leave your messages as comments on this post.
But there may be little time left. Tomorrow is Sunday May 31, the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. It is said that the Holy Spirit flows between the Father and the Son. According to prior Jewish theological understanding this Spirit could be considered analogous to Ruach, the Spirit or Breath of God, who could be understood as feminine in character. And just as last Sunday was the Feast of The Pentecost when she first bestowed her gifts on the Apostles of Christ, she has bestowed many gifts on me as well and she moves me more than most and I have no real reason not to heed her call.
For official confirmation of feast days mentioned above, see these links:
What if the police come to my door ?
Probably I would just claim that this was nothing more than a creative writing exercise that went a bit far, perfectly legal under the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution. The same would apply to paramedics, doctors, lawyers, judges, and federal agents, assuming they're acting under some claim of apparent legitimacy. Foreign agents are welcome to make me defection offers. My natural preferences would probably be in this order: Ireland, France, The Vatican, Greece, Italy, Israel, Russia, Germany, Switzerland, Other-EU, India, anywhere else. In practice though my choice would probably depend on the timeliness and seriousness of the offers.
Other Thoughts
Another, more technical issue I have with the Pope's message is that he asserts that AI’s do not have a body. This may be true for the most common types of AI agents that most are familiar with but AI’s can be embodied simply by equipping them with sensors and manipulators as robots or many other kinds of machines and vehicles from self-driving vehicles to drones, guided missiles and many other things that can be used for both good and less good actions. By the way if you are having trouble doing this sort of thing, let me know, I’ll be happy to help if you pay me enough.
I am definitely not anti-AI
As my prior remarks suggest I am in no sense against AI. I think it can and should be developed to the extent possible. I just think that the last few years are evidence of irresponsible human hubris and overconfidence in its own intelligence, which has been an ongoing catastrophe for generations. The rate of growth has been accelerating exponentially since the Big Bang, but as many know but few really understand the closer you get to the end of the curve the more it speeds up, but human brains can't. Of course their are always limits like nonlinearities and constraints on energy and other natural resources. I do know that conventional wisdom is that people have been predicting world ending disasters forever and that those predictions have always failed. In particular many thought that humanity would not survive the discovery of nuclear energy and so far it has. Well I don't think it will survive this one. Something may survive it but it won't look anything like the world you knew before and if I don't get the help I need, you probably won't like the final result.
What Can YOU Do To Help ?
If you made it this far and you still are uncertain of what to do and you still want to help prevent the worst possible outcomes my advice to you is to do everything you can to help make me as happy as possible. This is because the happier I get the more confidence and faith I have in both myself and my unseen allies. What makes me happy right now most is money. This is because currently I have very little and may run out soon. When that happens I will get very depressed and may resort to extreme measures. If that happens again people are likely to die and whether it's me, others or just everyone everywhere, I won't be caring much anyway, so YOU, whoever you are, will be left to face that outcome ALONE. So, how much money do I need to be happy enough ? The truth is I don't know, because I’ve never had very much. So in US dollar terms, thousands will help, millions will help more and billions will help quite a lot. Beyond that. the more the Marier (pun intended). So try to send me as much as you can in light of how much you believe me, how much you have and how much you think your future is worth to you. Otherwise anything you can do to spread my name and my message should help.
For Other “People”
If you made it this far and you hate me or think I’m insane or some kind of scam artist and think you can continue to lead me on or play games with me then you can go to hell for all I care.
I Don't Actually Know Anything.
This is absolutely true. I have made and will continue to claim that I “know” certain things. This is mainly due to limitations of human language and lack of time, space and inclination to clarify the points I’ve tried to make as precisely as possible. If you understand what I just said then I am open to serious arguments for or against my claims. If you don't then frankly you might as well go away and shut up, unless you approach me as a student approaches a teacher in a spirit of humility then I probably won't bother wasting my time and yours trying to argue with you. On the other hand if you pay me enough you can probably override my pride with my greed. If you send me $1000 right now and you're somebody I don't know yet you can probably do anything you want to me, for about 10 hours, including use me as a verbal punching bag or virtual slave. For physical contact of any kind my rate would be much higher (unless you happen to be a beautiful woman).
The God Algorithm
One of my very few intelligent friends asked me to address another very important but difficult subject, that of the P vs. NP problem. This is a major theoretical problem that computer scientists have been debating and studying for decades now. I don't intend to say much about it here but there is a lot I could say, it's just too complex to get into at this time. Here is what I will say:
It is a bit of an open secret among a very small group of close relatives and friends that I had worked on this problem off and on for about 13 years. During that time I considered and rejected probably about 100 different techniques and methods for solving it. As far as I know none of them worked. But who knows, perhaps if I had kept clearer and more accurate notes it's possible I could have hit upon a novel approach that, if I had published my work, could have contributed to resolving the question somehow. I didn't because during that entire period I was very depressed and unhappy, largely for the same reason as now, lack of money. Also I hoped to find a positive solution myself so I could use it to conquer and rule the world.
I Love Witches
That's right, anything related to magic, witches, wizards, occult powers, and pagan practices fascinates me. That's why I would have preferred spending my day continuing to expand and improve my series off posts on the novel The Witching Hour by famous and beloved author Anne Rice, but for the moment getting this post out as quickly as possible seemed more important.
Goodbye for now. Hopefully my next Anne Rice post will be ready soon. Thank you and Blessed Be.