ChatGPT and The Fall

I planned on writing an article about the Fall of Adam and Eve as recorded in Genesis chapter 3. I noticed that when thinking about the outcome of the Fall a bunch of words that started with the letter ‘D’ entered my mind; Doom, Disaster, Destruction etc..

So I was going to make the title of the article ‘Adam and Eve get Straight D’s’ or something like that. Then, for the first time ever I decided to use ChatGPT and see what would happen if I asked it to write it for me.

I was dumbfounded and delighted by the outcome but then I became sort of depressed. I quickly realized that ChatGPT is a way better at writing than I could ever be when given certain prompts.

In less than a minute it spat out this retelling of the Fall. I carefully examined it scrutinizing every word and phrase looking for a blatant theological error all the while making an allowance for dramatic flair and I could find none. This was surprising since my prompt is void of any explicitly theological language.

Here’s what I typed in for the prompt:

Use these words to tell the story of Adam and Eve: Disaster, Doom, Demise, Devastating, Disillusionment, Desire, Damage, Destruction, Disordered, Desires, Deemed, Deranged, Dud, Dark, Dumb, Delayed, Derived, Damnation, Dared, Dire, Deed, Defend, Dismay, Doubted, Denied, Detached, Discombobulated, During, Down, Despite, Depend, Decisive, Dynamic, Descent, Deceitful, Delightful, Defiant, Determined, Desert, Denial, Depth, Decline, Daffodils, Devoured, Driven, Door, Dangerous, Desert, Drooled

Here's what ChatGPT said about the Fall of Adam and Eve:

In the beginning, Adam and Eve lived in a paradise, where everything was delightful, the earth rich with abundance, and the air fresh with daffodils. They were dynamic beings, each driven by a profound sense of harmony and purpose, their desires aligned with the natural order. The Garden of Eden was a sanctuary, with no hint of disaster or doom. But the seeds of disordered desires were quietly sown in the shadows of their paradise.

One day, during a routine stroll, Eve encountered the serpent—a deceitful creature, determined to create discord. With a slick, deranged smile, it dared to sow seeds of doubt in her mind, whispering about forbidden fruit that would grant them knowledge and power. This desire, seemingly harmless at first, became the most dangerous of temptations. It was not long before she doubted the wisdom of the Creator and decided to partake in the forbidden act.

The moment Eve bit into the fruit, a devastating shift occurred. The deed was done, and the consequences were dire. Adam, though initially reluctant, was compelled by desire to follow. The fruit devoured their innocence, and the door to paradise swung closed forever. They were no longer deemed worthy of the garden. They had defied the Creator’s commands and were driven out into the dangerous desert of exile.

Their descent was swift and filled with dismay. The once delightful world around them turned dark, and the damage they had caused was irreversible. What had once been a dynamic existence became a fragile, painful reality. In the aftermath, both were detached from the beauty they had once known, and their world now seemed down—lost in a spiral of decline. Eve, in particular, felt the depth of her disillusionment, for she had been deceived by the serpent’s empty promises. The paradise they had once known was now a distant, fading memory, and they were left to wander the barren wilderness, denied the peace and joy they had once taken for granted.

Time passed, but despite their remorse, they could not undo the devastation. The world around them grew harsh, the desert vast, and the sky bleak. The painful consequences of their decision—damnation—followed them like a shadow, always there, always reminding them of the irreversible choice they had made. They were no longer innocent, but instead, they were driven by the knowledge of their fall, the darkness of their sin.

Their story was one of desire, disillusionment, and disastrous consequences. The damage they caused echoed through the ages, shaping not just their fate, but the fate of humanity itself.

Pretty good huh? 

ChatGPT and other large language models which are set up to make predictions of language patterns at light speed can easily replace authentic intelligence or the lack thereof. Which means we are at the end of the rope for teaching and learning, critical thinking and creativity. As one teacher put it, ‘I created the assignment using AI, the student used AI to complete it and then I had AI grade it’. No one taught and no one learned. The whole process was simply inputting prompts into something like Chat GPT by lazily cutting and pasting. Folks, if that's where we're headed we are doomed.

AI can tell the story of the Fall of Man which is essentially a Pandora's box of sin, pathology and troubles. The irony is that like the Fall, AI is like toothpaste which cannot be put back in the tube. There’s no turning back. Given our fallen nature (lazy, greedy and selfish) most of us are going to farm out difficult thinking, critical analysis and creativity to AI. Have we painted our intellectual growth into a corner?

Unless we figure out how to use AI to advance learning, rather than replace it, we are certain to experience the fall of education: That would be really dumb. Also a Disaster, Doom, Demise, Devastation, Disillusionment, Damage, Destruction, Disorder, Derangement, Dismay, Discombobulation...you get the idea!