[HN Gopher] AI-powered church service in Germany draws a large c...
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       AI-powered church service in Germany draws a large crowd
        
       Author : samizdis
       Score  : 27 points
       Date   : 2023-06-12 17:21 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (arstechnica.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (arstechnica.com)
        
       | ilrwbwrkhv wrote:
       | Germans have this innate desire to end their civilization through
       | technoanarchism.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | bitsinthesky wrote:
       | This is awesome. As a curious outside observer of Christianity, I
       | don't know what to think about it. Is it satire? A curiosity?
       | Ironically, the churches that are experimental and brave enough
       | to put on this show are probably the least robotic in their world
       | view and sermons and visa versa. I'm glad there are churches that
       | are confident enough in their faith to be able to take a step
       | back like this and enjoy the zeitgeist.
        
         | danjoredd wrote:
         | As a Christian, I feel pretty gross reading it. If it brings
         | them closer to God then I suppose it is alright. Part of the
         | draw, at least for me, is hearing different preacher's takes on
         | scripture and having my views challenged. I don't think AI can
         | accomplish that.
        
       | constantcrying wrote:
       | Why? Are the organizers sure that less human to human interaction
       | and more blatant alienation due to technology will drive people
       | to go to church?
        
         | Barrin92 wrote:
         | It's a gimmick to attract younger people to the church and seem
         | less antiquated. We have heavy membership losses in both the
         | Catholic and Protestant denominations for many years now, and
         | most people who still actively attend church are on average
         | very old.
        
       | ftxbro wrote:
       | this some cyberpunk shit
        
         | euroderf wrote:
         | Videodrome made flesh.
        
         | Melting_Harps wrote:
         | > this some cyberpunk shit
         | 
         | Next up, non-virtual crucifixions for the visceral devotees in
         | order to _keep it real_ again [0].
         | 
         | Seriously, given how terribly morose the Catholic church is, I
         | really don't see it being out of the realm of possibility.
         | 
         | As for this, its a PR stunt; less and less people are attending
         | church in most of the Western world and the move towards
         | secularism is a sign of progress if it can be coupled with a
         | healthy sense of community.
         | 
         | Too much blood has been shed for these fairy tales and the fact
         | that Humanity has a deep fixation with making Gods out of
         | everything should be turned inward and turn into a reverence
         | for Nature and the environment which keeps them alive rather
         | than some scriptures written by archaic ways of living and
         | thinking by most organized religion.
         | 
         | I study AI and ML and to be honest this is the most low hanging
         | fruit one can think of when seeking spiritual guidance in Life,
         | or using data to enhance and improve many things: this is
         | clearly not one of them.
         | 
         | What is the underlying usecase(s)?
         | 
         | Are there going to be a new legion of AI-based televangelist
         | preachers spamming every medium available because their Human
         | counterparts can't or won't anymore? Seems to me that this will
         | go the way of subscription based everything and hidden as a
         | form of tithing to the few who remain.
         | 
         | 0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8itBd3cahA
        
       | kbigdelysh wrote:
       | Attracting people to religion is a wrong use of AI.
        
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       (page generated 2023-06-12 23:03 UTC)