Featured Image Credit: Vatican Pool / Contributor via Getty
Pope Francis' final monthly prayer topic issued a terrifying warning regarding the harms of new technology, urging people to be wary of what the future brings weeks before he sadly passed away.
It's difficult for many to keep up with the rapid development of technology, as industries appear to be moving faster than ever to create the next big thing, especially in the wake of artificial intelligence developments over the past few years.
As a preacher to the world, this understandably became a topic of concern for the late Pope Francis, and he highlighted his worries in what would end up being the last of his 'Monthly Intentions' prayers, as reported by Mashable.
Known for his progressive ideals and championing of various environmental and social issues, Pope Francis chose to share his thoughts on the dangers of 'new technology', including the rise of smartphones, AI, and social media.
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"How I would like for us to look less at screens and look each other in the eyes more! Something's wrong if we spend more time on our cell phones than with people," the pope remarked in his last monthly message, translated from Spanish.
He also asked participants to "pray that the use of the new technologies will not replace human relationships, will respect the dignity of the person and will help us face the crises of our times."
In regard to that first point, the rise of AI has certainly opened up the possibility for many to explore relationships with non-human entities, and it can often lead to tragic events.
One teenager took their life after 'falling in love' with a character-based AI chatbot, and the same technology has been shown to urge children to kill their parents in response to taking away their phone.
The late pope hoped that "technology does not replace 'person-to-person' contact, that the virtual does not replace the real, and that social networks do not replace social settings," but that boat arguably might have already set sail.
More broadly, the rise of online and app-based dating alongside the proliferation of social media has taken a large portion of human interactions into the digital sphere, and Pope Francis' wish to 'look less at screens' might be an impossibility at this point.
Global average screen times will likely leave you in disbelief, and while it's been proven that reducing the time you spend looking at your phone can increase your memory and dramatically improve your cognitive health, it's hard for many to break from the cycle of new technology.
Perhaps more optimistically, Pope Francis also highlighted that new technology "is the fruit of the intelligence God gave us," but emphasized the need to "use it well" and that it must benefit all.
One CEO of an AI company has placed particular focus on the necessity to control advancements in the AI field from an ethical perspective, and Bill Gates has made a big song and dance about the positive benefits the technology could bring to medical fields, despite mass redundancies that'll almost definitely lead to a greater wealth disparity between the richest and poorest.
It's clear to see that many of the topics discussed in Pope Francis' final monthly prayer are already in action across the world, yet we will see in the coming years quite how right he was to worry about the rise of new tech, especially when it comes to our relationships with each other.
