If Those Days Were Not Shortened

by Rolaant McKenzie

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (or A.I.) is a 2001 American science fiction drama film based on the 1969 short story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long" by famed science fiction author Brian Aldiss (1925-2017). Set in the 22nd century amid a declining human population, first-world nations have created advanced humanoid robots called mechas to fulfill various roles in society.

The movie follows the story of David, a mecha designed by Cybertronics of New Jersey to resemble an 11-year-old boy, emulate thoughts and emotion, and display love for its human owners. In his adventures interacting with humans, David runs a gamut of emotions -- love, jealousy, abandonment, fear, despair, and longing. Like Carlo Collodi's (1826-1890) animated marionette in The Adventures of Pinocchio (1883), his greatest desire was to become human and be loved as a real boy.

David, traveling in an amphibicopter in the now submerged Manhattan, became trapped underwater in the area of Coney Island when the Wonder Wheel fell on the vehicle. There he remained until his internal power source and that of the vehicle expired.

Two thousand years later, Manhattan is buried deep under glacial ice. Human life had gone extinct long before and continued to live only in the memories uploaded into the mecha that remained. By this time, they had evolved into highly advanced, alien-appearing, dark gray, vaguely humanoid machines. A group of them on an archeological dig in the area found David in the amphibicopter embedded in the ice. They considered this discovery to be particularly special and unique because David was an ancient mecha that actually knew living humans.

The archeological team revived David and used their telekinetic powers to retrieve his memories and comprehend them. They informed him that it would be impossible for them to make him human. They also told him that they could provide a simulation of the warmth and love he sought, but that it would only last one day and disappear forever. David accepted their offer, spent the happiest day of his life, and went to sleep at day's end.

This film brings to mind ideas on what it means to be human and the continuity of humanity through technology. These are the kinds of things that futurists discuss and seek to guide the thinking and trends of society. Key to this discussion is the promotion of transhumanism, a movement that sponsors the enhancement of human health, cognition, well-being, and longevity through emerging technological advances.

Raymond Kurzweil is a prominent American inventor, futurist, author, and entrepreneur who is widely recognized as a pioneer and leading advocate of the transhumanist movement. One of his best-known books is The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (2005), which talks about artificial intelligence (AI) and how it will impact the future of humanity. In it, Kurzweil describes the Law of Accelerating Returns, which posits that exponential technological advancements in computers, genetics, nanotechnology, robotics, and AI would lead to what he calls "the Singularity," the point at which AI exceeds human intelligence and humans merge with machines (i.e., neural implants, nanobots, etc.). He optimistically sees this as fundamentally redefining what it means to be human.

In the book, Kurzweil did not place this event sometime in the distant future. He said, "I set the date for the Singularity -- representing a profound and disruptive transformation in human capability -- as 2045." In a sequel called The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with AI (2024), he predicted that AI would reach parity with human intelligence by 2029 and continued to maintain that the Singularity would occur by 2045.

Others have expressed pessimism about these potential developments. Geoffrey Hinton is a Nobel Prize-winning computer scientist and former Google executive. His work in cognitive science and artificial neural networks has earned him the title "the Godfather of AI." He left Google in 2023 so that he could speak freely about his concerns about the many risks associated with the AI technology he helped to develop, including his assessment of a 10%-20% chance that AI would lead to human extinction within a few decades.

At the Ai4 conference in Las Vegas on August 12, 2025, Hinton expressed doubts that technology companies are doing enough to ensure human control over AI systems. He warned that as these systems get smarter than humans, they will evade safeguards and seek to gain more control over humans. Hinton pointed out that some AI systems have shown a willingness to deceive, cheat, and steal to achieve their goals. One example involved an AI model that, in order to avoid being shut down, tried to blackmail an engineer with compromising information it learned about in an e-mail. Hinton warned that unless we can teach AI to genuinely care for human beings, it will be the end of us.

For Kurzweil, the Singularity is a dream to be embraced and pursued regardless of the risks. Technology corporate elites like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Sam Altman also share this transhumanist dream and have devoted their enormous wealth to help it come to pass. If allowed to continue, the rapid advancement of AI could lead to the end of humanity as we know it; that is, man becoming increasingly more like machine, like the highly advanced mecha of A.I., and transforming into something post-human.

When His disciples asked Him on the Mount of Olives about the sign of His coming and the end of the age, Jesus warned them not to be misled by the many false Christs that would come after Him. He told them of a coming time of unprecedented tribulation on the earth where false Christs and false prophets would play a key role in deceiving the world with their false signs and wonders (Matthew 24).

"For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short." (Matthew 24:21-22)

Transhumanist elites are seen by many as saviors of humanity who are paving the way to a utopian future. They show great signs and wonders through their technology, deceiving many into believing that they can transcend their current imperfect human state by merging with their AI technology. Just as iron cannot be mixed with clay because they were not designed to do so, the effort to combine man with machine cannot succeed without destroying God's design for human beings made in His image (Genesis 1:26-27).

When the prophet Daniel interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great statue, he spoke of a stone cut without hands that struck its feet that were composed of iron and clay. The stone crushed the statue and became a great mountain that filled the earth and forever remained (Daniel 2:31-45).

Jesus is that stone, the chief cornerstone, who will cut short the days of the transhumanist road to perdition and save humanity with the establishment of His kingdom that will never end (Acts 4:8-12; Revelation 19:11-21).

Transhumanist technocrats can only offer a counterfeit salvation, for their technology cannot make their kingdom last. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be a part of His kingdom. Receive His love, forgiveness, and true life that never ends.

"And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)