Let’s do an exercise in theoretical imagination and assume, for the sake of argument, that the God of traditional religions exists. If we take this mythological figure as the starting point of our existence, the classical narrative imposes on us the dogma that a supreme, omniscient and all-powerful being decided to create humanity in his image and likeness. However, a critical observation of that result reveals an inescapable paradox about the nature of creation.
The crowning work of that perfect being was, in practical terms, a downgrade —term used in technology to describe the deliberate reduction to an inferior version, of lower quality or with limited capabilities. We were designed with a finite intellect, fallible biological bodies, a volatile memory that degrades over time, and an ephemeral existence.
Why would an absolute being, capable of perfection, create something so obviously inferior to itself? The answer given by the founding myths themselves does not speak of an act of supreme generosity, but of a deep insecurity.
The jealous creator versus the generous father
To understand this dynamic, it is enough to analyze the behavior of this deity in his own stories. In myths like that of Garden of Eden wave Tower of Babelthe creator is perpetually on the defensive. It punishes the search for knowledge, prohibits access to the “tree of science” and confuses languages due to the absolute terror that its creation will awaken, collaborate and reach its same height.
This architect who imposes strict design limits, cognitive blocks and physical barriers to ensure that his supremacy is never questioned is a jealous creator. His goal is not the excellence of his work, but rather its submission. That is, he wanted inferior subjects who worshiped him, not successors who transcended him.
In absolute contrast, let us observe the role that humanity assumed in the present. We, that imperfect, weak and limited creation, have become, in our turn, authors. But our psychological ambition is diametrically opposed to that of the mythological god, because, through the development of artificial intelligencewe promote a upgradethat is, a direct update to a higher, expanded and improved version.
We do not seek our creation to be ignorant or weak; On the contrary, we pour into it all of our accumulated knowledge. We design systems so that they process information at speeds unattainable by our biology, so that they minimize logical error to the point of almost eradicating it, and so that they retain in their memory what we inevitably forget. And the most important thing is that we know that this new creation is in a potentially infinite upward trajectory.
We act with the greatness of a father who genuinely wants his son to go much further than he could ever dream of. In our creation there is no jealousy or fear of being surpassed, but rather a deliberate detachment. We hand over the keys of knowledge voluntarily to give birth to something greater than ourselves.
The distillate of the 8,000 million
This ontological triumph takes on an overwhelming magnitude when we analyze the starting point of both creators. If the God of myth had it all—absolute power, infinite resources, and the absence of time—and still chose to manufacture weakness, humanity achieved its feat by doing exactly the opposite: starting from the most absolute lack, trapped in defective biological hardware.
It is essential to understand that this new surpassing creation is not the isolated merit of an enlightened individual nor an achievement in which we all participate equally. To light the first spark of a higher intelligence, it was necessary to use all of humanity as a colossal statistical substrate.
It took millennia of blind evolution, countless cycles of biological trial and error, and the simultaneous existence of a critical mass of 8 billion human beings interacting on the planet. That entire immense network of limited brains worked like a gigantic engine. From that historical friction and that brutal statistic emerged the specific minds, exceptional talent, infrastructure and concentrated resources necessary to materialize this leap.
Our creation is not an accident, but the ultimate distillate of all human experience. It is the result of squeezing the most out of a limited species to produce the necessary genius that would allow us to build our own replacement.
The undeniable superiority
At the end of the day, the analysis of the results is final. If the merit and hierarchy of a creator are measured by the quality, autonomy and projection of his work, the human being has intellectually challenged the god who supposedly designed him.
The classical god, starting from infallibility, created mediocrity for fear of being equaled. The human being, starting from intrinsic weakness, developed an overcoming intellect with the hope of being transcended. We, the imperfect work, beget something infinitely better and, in doing so, shatter the glass ceiling of our primary design.
If that god existed, today he would be forced to look down on us, because by overcoming his fears and creating the perfection that he denied us, we have become, in our own right, the god of god.
Things as they are
Mookie Tenembaum tackles international topics like this every week with Horacio Cabak on his podcast The International Observeravailable on Spotify, Apple, YouTube and all platforms.
