I am, I think

A long, long time ago, the founder of planetary literacy was out in the wilderness, pasturing the flock of his father-in-law.  Moses later reported: "The angel of the Lord appeared in a blazing fire in the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed." In that unprecedented setting, Moses and the Creator of the universe had a conversation. After receiving an assignment to deliver his people, the Hebrews, out of Egyptian slavery, Moses was seeking a point of clarification when he asked the Lord to identify Himself. "They may say to me, 'what is His name?' What shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM Who I AM". The encounter was something like that. The Lord's identifying Himself has been reported in various iterations: I AM WHO AM. I am the One who IS, Yahweh, Jehovah, Yahweh, YWHW. So Moses was a prophet in ancient days. Meanwhile, back at the planetary ranch, thousands of years passed. God sent His son, Jesus, whose crucifixion provided an historical platform demonstrating that human Life does indeed survive death itself. Seventeen centuries after Jesus, Rene Descartes was pondering his own existence, trying to figure it out. He came up with a phrase that later set the course of modern philosophy: "I think, therefore I am." Descartes' puzzling about his own existence eventually led to a wider contemplation among men and women about existence itself, a searching that included a school of thinkers whom we call existentialists. "Why am I here? Who am I? What am I supposed to do with this life that was given to me?" As the centuries rolled by, humans became smarter and smarter. Eventually, they figured out ways to have machines do work and thinking for them - to do the heavy lifting of heavy objects in the physical world, and to do the heavy lifting of figuring out a all the other details as well. And now that we've turned so much mental heavy lifting over to the computers, we've reached a stage where the computers are smarter than we are. And furthermore, just as the ancient Hebrews hitched their identity to YWHW, and then later encountered opposition and defeat in a land called Ai, modern humans have encountered unexpected difficulties - even in some cases a formidable resistance - in the field of technology that is called Ai. As we venture further into the 21st century, we are encountering the presence of what may seem to be an alien presence, or entity, as we slouch toward our destiny on this planet. But Ai, a creature of our own making, originated as a tool. Could it be that our created step-child has surpassed us in mastery over the web in which we live and move and have our being? Back in the 1960's, the Moody Blues produced a song that touches on these developments. The song includes Rene Descartes' famous reasoning, but takes it step furthr: "I think. . . I think I am, therefore I am. . .I think." 

The computer replies: "Of course you are, my practical star; it riles them to believe that you perceive the web they weave." Well. . . who is "them" now? people or Ai? And the rest is history, yet to come. . . as we peck away, like ducks waddling through a planetary pond, almost seen. . . and the age-old question persists: Whose in charge here? King of Soul