To Err Is Human But To Forgive Is Divine: But What Is Human?

To Err Is Human But To Forgive Is Divine

The phrase ‘To err is human; to forgive, divine’ is originally from a poem written in 1711 by English poet Alexander Pope titled An Essay on Criticism, Part II.

An Essay on Criticism, Part II.

Begins With:

Of all the causes which conspire to blind

Man's erring judgment, and misguide the mind,

What the weak head with strongest bias rules,

Is pride, the never-failing vice of fools.

Whatever Nature has in worth denied,

She gives in large recruits of needful pride;

For as in bodies, thus in souls, we find

What wants in blood and spirits, swell'd with wind;

Pride, where wit fails, steps in to our defence,

And fills up all the mighty void of sense!

If once right reason drives that cloud away,

Truth breaks upon us with resistless day;

Trust not yourself; but your defects to know,

Make use of ev'ry friend—and ev'ry foe.

Now, what does this have to do with today’s topic?  That is a great question.

The issue today is what is human and we are beginning to redefine humanity?

Jacquelyne Germain in her article for the Smithsonian Magazine that was published 26 Jan. 2023

explained, “Now, artificial intelligence will try something new: offering legal counsel. Next 

month (Feb.22, 2023), an A.I. will make its way to the courtroom to help two defendants fight

speeding tickets.

Joshua Browder the President of DONOTPay on Jan. 25, 2023 tweeted

Good morning! Bad news: after receiving threats from State Bar prosecutors, it seems likely they will put me in jail for 6 months if I follow through with bringing a robot lawyer into a physical courtroom. DoNotPay is postponing our court case and sticking to consumer rights:

Even though the AI attorney will not appear in court on February  22, the question remains: What should we consider to be the rights of humans, and what should be the rights of machines?

Are we redefining the rights we give our machines?  Are we granting more rights to machines while limiting human rights? If the ability to reason makes us humans, then wouldn’t the AI attorney be human?  If the ability to interact with each other on such a deep level is what makes us truly human, would not the AI attorney be human?  Therefore, the real difference is not the ability to think, but the ability to have a soul.

If the key characteristic that makes us humans is that we can think about alternative futures and make deliberate choices accordingly, then these AI attorneys are humans. Perhaps we should take a more religious look at what humanity is and is not. The human being is described in The Catechism of the Catholic Church as being created in God’s image—as both male and female—and is one person with both a body and a soul. These are the defining characteristics of who we are, and they are worthy of our exploration. Here, the image of God is needed. The AI - the attorney was fashioned after a man. 

They began this year with the promise of an AI attorney, which they withdrew by the end of the first month of 2023, but is this the last we've heard of it? Maybe not. The human being is described in The Catechism of the Catholic Church as created in God’s image—as both male and female and is one person with both a body and a soul. These are the defining characteristics of who we are, and they are worthy of our exploration. Image of God

We began with a 1711 poem and we end with the closing stanza of that same poem.  Did the words of this poem actually predict what we are going through now?

But if in noble minds some dregs remain,

Not yet purg'd off, of spleen and sour disdain,

Discharge that rage on more provoking crimes,

Nor fear a dearth in these flagitious times.

No pardon vile obscenity should find,

Though wit and art conspire to move your mind;

But dulness with obscenity must prove

As shameful sure as impotence in love.

In the fat age of pleasure, wealth, and ease,

Sprung the rank weed, and thriv'd with large increase:

When love was all an easy monarch's care;

Seldom at council, never in a war:

Jilts ruled the state, and statesmen farces writ;

Nay wits had pensions, and young Lords had wit:

The fair sat panting at a courtier's play,

And not a mask went unimprov'd away:

The modest fan was lifted up no more,

And virgins smil'd at what they blush'd before.

The following licence of a foreign reign

Did all the dregs of bold Socinus drain;

Then unbelieving priests reform'd the nation,

And taught more pleasant methods of salvation;

Where Heav'n's free subjects might their rights dispute,

Lest God himself should seem too absolute:

Pulpits their sacred satire learned to spare,

And Vice admired to find a flatt'rer there!

Encourag'd thus, wit's Titans brav'd the skies,

And the press groan'd with licenc'd blasphemies.

These monsters, critics! with your darts engage,

Here point your thunder, and exhaust your rage!

Yet shun their fault, who, scandalously nice,

Will needs mistake an author into vice;

All seems infected that th' infected spy,

As all looks yellow to the jaundic'd eye.