I have 2 topics for you today: (1) my view of what’s happening to us in mortality; & (2) a list of some of the most important things I’ve learned in life.
First I’ll tell you how I see our mortal experience. If I tell you anything really wrong – hopefully Bishop Hanks will correct it. If it’s just wrong for you – then hopefully the Holy Ghost will cause it to sound wrong for you.
Just after our ward was created had a meeting with then-Bishop Ron Thomas & I told him that my view of the way the Holy Ghost sends ideas to our minds is similar to the way cell phones work – i.e. mental text messages (ideas & images -often with some emotional feeling associated with it). Bishop Thomas then said “I’ve never heard anything like that before!”. A few years after that I saw a video of Elder Uchdorf (now president of the Quorum of 12 Apostles) holding a cell phone & saying that people who complain saying the way the Holy Ghost works sounds to fantastical to be true. Elder Uchtdord should consider how cell phones work – which seemed like magic 50 years ago. Did you ever see that video Bishop Thomas?
These days a lot of people are worried about Artificial Intelligence (AI) becoming smarter than we are & spiraling out of control. AI is based on computers made of semiconductors – mainly Si. We are made of biomaterials – based on C. As far back as 30 years ago there was research showing biofilms were better at storing data than current data shorage materials. Two days ago there was a new report of researchers at the University of Bristol in England using brain tissue as a computer. All the evidence I’ve seen shows that biomaterials are better than semiconductors for computers – but we mortals don’t have the technology to use biomaterials well. The Lord does have thst technology. That’s what the Lord made us of. The Lord even gave us machines made of biomaterials that can replicate themselves. That’s our bodies. That’s much better technology than us mortals have. It’s interesting that C is right above Si in the periodic table of elements. Since C is smaller & can fold on itself to make biopolymers – it works a lot better than the semiconductor Si.
So, if we’re worried about AI spiraling out of control – should we be worried about us C-based real intelligences spiraling out of control? Well, the Lord has a way to prevent that. The Lord has a testing process for us to be sure we will behave in good ways. That testing process is called mortality. This test is very thorough. Parents know that the time they can tell how the kids really will behave is when the kids don’t know the parent is watching. Well, here on earth – the Lord sees how we will behave (good or bad) when we can’t tell He is watching. It’s even a more thorough test because we can even remember if our Father in Heaven even exists at all! What a thorough test! I have a daughter who had a medical procedure and was given what’s called the “Twilight anesthetic”. It causes the patient to not be able to remember the procedure performed while under the anesthetic. I also have a friend who is former US Special Forces. He told me the military has a classified technology that causes people to forget recent memories. I’ve read research where scientist cause mice to forget recent memories – but the people using this classified technology on humans likely don’t want to publish it. I’m sure the Lord has technology much more advanced than us primitive mortals. Our spirits inside our bodies are probably made of even better materials than our biomaterials.
So that’s how I see our mortal experience on earth. I’m sure I’m missing a lot of things – but it makes sense & agrees with every Christial religion I know of. Everything I learn about science causes the Gospel of Jesus Christ to sound more & more logical to me. The branch of Christianity that agrees best with science is the Gospel of Jesus Christ as described by Joseph Smith 200 years ago! Another example is Einstein’s theory of time slowing down for object of high energy or mass. That was what confused Einstein as he was developing his theory of relativity. These days relativity is viewed at totally correct & our communication satellites orbiting the earth move so fast that they even have to correct their timing for relativity. The Lord I suspect is high energy & 200 years ago the Prophet Joseph Smith said that time moves more slowly for our Father in Heaven. We call it “Heaven” because it’s somewhere above us – but the Lord certainly exists somewhere. In the New Testament the Savior Jesus Christ said there would be false prophets but the Savior said “by their fruits ye shall know them. Well, some of the “fruits” of the Prophet Joseph Smith have been to cause people to live good lives, have strong families, have a very logical doctrine that agrees better with science than any other philosophy, & the wonderfully helpful book called the “Book of Mormon – Another Testament of Jesus Christ” – which basically explains the Gospel of Jesus Christ in very simple, easy to understand, words. Those are pretty good fruits.
OK, hopefully now all that sounds logical to you & the list of my most important lessons from almost 70 years of life will sound more logical to you.
[Present list of most important items I’ve learned in life]
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.