Are our minds merely machines destined to be outperformed by artificial intelligence? Is there room for the soul in this picture and where does God fit in?
This is an essay that I wrote for my graduate class at Carnegie Mellon University at the end of our semester. They asked for an explanation of the faith and worldview that they saw underpinned my teaching
John 15 – Nice about the vine but what about the burnt-up branches???
There appears to be a dark side to this ‘true vine’ discourse by Jesus which is the discarded branches. In verse 2, the Father/gardener ‘cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit’ and in verse 6 he says that ‘if anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire and burned’.
