The intent of these books was to see how artificial intelligence (A.I.) dealt with the Bible and with humor. Since A.I. is generated by godless algorithms and computers, the authors sought to see if ChatGPT would treat faith issues with respect, especially in a world where Christianity is coming under increasing attacks and where the architects of A.I. seem to demean religion regularly. Additionally, the authors sought to see if A.I. had a sense of humor and if ChatGPT could generate rib-tickling jokes based on some standard comic memes and on topical and controversial issues in contemporary culture.
The results were surprising with A.I. generally being respectful of religious issues but failing to show a refined sense of humor. The books provide as much insight on artificial intelligence’s “thinking” as much as it does faith and comedy.
ABOUT DEVOTIONALS FROM A SOULLESS MACHINE: With
the release of OpenAI making ChatGPT available to the public in 2022, the
authors wondered how a soulless machine would interpret biblical verses. Would the results from a godless computer be
derogatory or supportive of their Christian beliefs? Using some of the most beloved verses as well
as several of the more disturbing passages from the Bible, Preston and Harriet
Lewis began a faith journey through artificial intelligence that provided
surprising results.
Devotionals
from a Soulless Machine: A Journey of Faith through Artificial Intelligence takes
the reader along as these two laypersons explore how A.I. interprets God’s
message and the basic tenets of Christianity.
The co-authors prompted ChatGPT to develop a devotional of 500 words or
less along with a related prayer on more than a hundred biblical verses,
including some of the most-recognized verses as well as some of the most
obscure or vile passages never covered in Sunday school lessons.
In the
end the exercise provided the authors with some reassurances about how
artificial intelligence can support religious growth as well as raising
questions about the technology’s long-term implications for the religious
experience. Devotionals from a
Soulless Machine: A Journey of Faith through Artificial Intelligence
provides an eye-opening look into the majesty of Christian convictions, even in
the age of algorithms and chatbots.
ABOUT JOKES FROM A HUMORLESS MACHINE: Jokes
from a Humorless Machine: A Comedic Romp through Artificial Intelligence
explores whether AI, specifically ChatGPT, has enough of a sense of humor to
create jokes that will tickle the funny bone of contemporary Americans. Through a series of prompts, the authors
asked ChatGPT to develop jokes on classic themes as well as contemporary issues
with surprising results, all demonstrating AI's sense of humor as shaped by its
algorithmic woke sensibilities.
Authors
Preston Lewis and Harriet Kocher Lewis prompted ChatGPT to develop jokes on
themes like knock-knock, yo mama, three fellows enter a bar and the reason the
chicken crossed the road. Then they
moved on to more contemporary issues like politics, politicians and gender
identify, challenging ChatGPT to find humor in modern culture. Finally, the authors seek from ChatGPT
observations on contemporary culture in the style of several American humorists
and more recent comedians.
In the
process, the authors not only touched on the history of classic comedic memes
but also discover biases in the resulting AI output. Are the jokes sensitive? Absolutely!
Are they politically correct?
Without a doubt! Are the jokes
funny? The reader will decide.
Preston Lewis is the award-winning author of more than 50 novels and nonfiction books as well as numerous articles, short stories and book reviews. He began his career working at four Texas newspapers before moving into higher education communications and marketing at Texas Tech University and Angelo State University. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Baylor University plus master’s degrees from Ohio State University in journalism and Angelo State in history. Lewis’s honors include two Spur Awards for western novels and articles from Western Writers of America as well as nine Will Rogers Medallion Awards for western humor, novels, short stories and articles.
Harriet Kocher Lewis is a retired physical therapist and academician at Angelo State University, where she co-authored or edited numerous scientific articles or professional presentations. Her other writings include several published meditations for her church. As a member of an American Physical Therapy Association work group, she helped write the advanced level clinical education curriculum for therapists nationally. She earned a bachelor’s degree in biology/PT at Baylor University as well as a PT certificate from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. Lewis also has a master’s degree from Texas Tech University in health, physical education and recreation with an industrial engineering minor. She is the wife of Preston Lewis, the mother of two and the grandmother of five.
One of resilience and transformation, Conquergood’s life-changing discovery explores the depths of family, memory, love, and the mysteries that lie at the heart of the universe.
In 2183, Jerome Conquergood is an outcast roaming the abandoned and crumbling skyscrapers of Old York City outside the Korporation’s seductive and dizzying headquarters, a post-apocalyptic security-city for the mega-rich. Despite his hatred for the techno-optimism and the Korporation, Conquergood is compelled to save his mysterious twin brother Vincent by joining the Korporation, a mega-corporate and governmental entity in a world oppressed to peace.
Excerpt from From Book Two, Chapter II, “Lesson XI”
Conquergood & the Center of
the Intelligible Mystery of Being
Note from the author: The
below excerpt details how books will always be important to humanity and to the
survival of civilization, even if that is on an invisible moral level with the
inheritance of passing knowledge down to future generations.
The scene takes place in the basements of the
Korporation’s mega-city-like headquarters. The Korporation has built its
foundations upon the Korporate Library, which is located deep underground and
was once the New York City Public Library.
= = =
“I
remember,” Conquergood whispers into the limitless virtual holo-sky. “I do
remember.”
He
drops his gaze from off the digital ceiling and in a state of fervid alacrity
Conquergood recasts the first library he had ever been in.
“Fifth
Avenue,” he says to himself, spinning inward in the silent erudition of
self-discovery.
In his
mind’s eye, still hovering high above the compass imprinted upon the library
floor, he witnesses the entrance to the Fifth Avenue Library: a staircase with
a prostrate stone lion on one side and a stone vase on the other.
Mentally,
Conquergood moves through four towering columns into the effulgent New York
City Public Library. His vision catches sight of a similar sign which now hangs
on the entrance to the Korporate Library. And it is the name — John Milton —
which halts the memory.
“Yes,
I do remember Paradise Lost and a
great many others.” Conquergood struggles into the depths of his eternal soul.
“But that can’t be. That’s impossible. That was so very long ago.” How long? He does not remember.
Uncomprehending,
he struggles with the memory as his frantic mind races with meta-calculations.
In his memory, he continues seeing rows of long wooden tables with entrenched
readers intent on unlocking secrets away from the pages before them, before the
time of the World Wide Web and the virtual environments, separating humanity
from the natural world of touch and taste and smell. Chandeliers of such
exorbitant sunshine reflecting its clean light upon a white floor and its brown
walkway in between rows of tables. Buttresses lining the walls, windows giving
ease to the artificial glow from above. And Conquergood is seeing it all — as
clear as any memory from five minutes ago.
Conquergood
remains embodied in both libraries, being two places at once, propagating
between both worlds, the real and the recollection. He welcomes the exotic
sensations the journey carries, admiring his own awe of what libraries had
been, before the Era of Digitization conquered them; the rules of being
forbidden to speak above a whisper cascade back onto his memories, as well as
the mustiness of age and wisdom being on free display, and he remembers how
these holy sites often went un-used and became under-valued over the
generations.
Conquergood
can now recall how he had behaved on his first visit to the library. As a small
boy he had been nervous with polite reverence, uncertain of which way to turn,
of which aisle to discover, and which row to select from, of which bookshelf to
choose from, of which book he should pull from its everlasting hearth, of which
pages he should read from in order to breathe in its fiery passions to fill a
dulled boy’s heart, igniting a mind to inspire upon ‘a life beyond life.’ The
books had held lives of their own back then. But now he also knows that these
books had made up a whole body, as though each book was a cell in a living
organism in a state of repetitive meditation and waiting for the hand to pluck
them from the tree which bears endless fruit. Feeling overwhelmed, Conquergood
reluctantly leaves his memory-vision.
After
selecting several more books, Conquergood glides down on the hover-slide and
locates one of two old-fashioned Georgian style leather armchairs next to a
small table and banker’s lamp with bronze base and an amber mica shade. Above
the two chairs is an oil painting, “Still-Life of Books, 1628” by Jan Davidsz,
and Conquergood sees in the painting a violin placed on a wooden desk among
scattered manuscripts.
Starting
from the beginning of the first book he chose, and savoring each morsel of each
word on his lips — as a dehydrated man does in a desert when an oasis can be
found just in time to save his life — Conquergood finishes the book in under
three hours.
Each
phoneme grasps and wets his tongue in unexpected new language and cognizance.
He finishes the book, places it down on the side stand, and in a fit of bedlam
and clarity, juxtaposed with his soul, says aloud,
“I’m
the ghost that’s always around, but nowhere to be found. Why is that?”
Out of
the decades of change and virtual globalization, Conquergood can hear the
author’s voice echoing concrete certitude from the page:
“Without
the library, you have no civilization.”
Photo credit: Thor
The American novelist CG FEWSTON has been a Visiting Scholar at the American Academy in Rome (Italy), a Visiting Fellow at Hong Kong’s CityU, & he’s been a member of the Hemingway Society, Americans for the Arts, PEN America, Club Med, & the Royal Society of Literature. He’s also been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) based in London. He has a B.A. in English, an M.Ed. in Higher Education Leadership (honors), an M.A. in Literature (honors), and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing & Fiction. He was born in Texas in 1979.
Fewston is the author of several short stories and novels. His works include A Father’s Son, The New America: Collection, The Mystic’s Smile ~ A Play in 3 Acts, Vanity of Vanities, A Time to Love in Tehran, Little Hometown, America, A Time to Forget in East Berlin, and Conquergood & the Center of the Intelligible Mystery of Being.
In this lawyer-on-the-run suspense drama, attorney Quinton Bell loses the trial of his career, and possibly his life.
Dead By Proxy takes you on a heart-pounding journey through the life of a criminal defense attorney whose world is wiped out. When Quinton loses a career-defining case, he finds himself being hunted by the very client he tried to save.
As Quinton navigates the treacherous path of survival, he is running from a powerful and relentless adversary who will stop at nothing to see him silenced. Finally landing in Houston, he hides in plain sight while re-inventing his new life as a trial lawyer.
When he’s forced to take on a high-profile murder case, he exposes himself and those he loves to danger. With each passing moment, the noose tightens, and he must draw on every ounce of wit to outsmart those who still want him dead.
Will Quinton Bell find a way out, or will he forever be a target in a deadly game of cat and mouse?
Dead By Proxy is the first book in the edgy Proxy Legal Thriller Series. If you like memorable characters, smart gritty action, and jaw-dropping twists, then you’ll love Manning Wolfe’s fast-paced page-turner.
PRAISE FOR DEAD BY PROXY:
“A riveting read that expertly teams courtroom drama and legal maneuvering with imminent danger, spine-tingling suspense, a touch of romance, and non-stop action. Talk about an adrenaline rush!”
–Reedsy
“Manning Wolfe just put herself on my list of must-read authors!”
Manning Wolfe, an award-winning author and attorney, writes cinematic-style, smart, fast-paced thrillers and crime fiction. Manning was recently featured on Oxygen TV’s: Accident, Suicide, or Murder, and has spoken at major book festivals around the world.
Manning’s legal thriller series, featuring Austin attorney Merit Bridges, includes Dollar Signs, Music Notes, Green Fees, and Chinese Wall.
Manning’s new Proxy Legal Thrillers Series, featuring Houston attorney Quinton Bell, includes Dead by Proxy, Hunted by Proxy, and Alive by Proxy.
Manning is co-author of Killer Set: Drop the Mic, and twelve additional Bullet Books Speed Reads.
As a graduate of Rice University and the University of Texas School of Law, Manning’s experience has given her a voyeur’s peek into some shady characters’ lives and a front-row seat to watch the good people who stand against them.
Wings of Fire meets Pax in this epic fantasy adventure set in a world where human and skysteed share a deep bond of friendship. When monsters emerge to attack the empire, it's up to shy Kiesandra and her beloved winged horse N'Rah to prove to the imperial army that she has what it takes to lead them to victory . . . and to ensure the survival of their world.
Buzzing with action, heart, and friendship, this first book in the Skyriders series shows that kids can achieve the impossible--especially with flying horses on their side.
PRAISE FOR SKYRIDERS:
"Skyriders soars off the page and takes you along for an epic adventure that will leave you breathless and asking for more.”
—James Ponti,New York Times bestselling author of the City Spies series
"A breathtaking, mythical adventure. This is the kind of book I would have devoured and read over and over again as a kid."
—Liesl Shurtliff, New York Times bestselling author of Rump and the Time Castaways trilogy
"Kiesandra Torsun is an unforgettable heroine who never gives up, even when facing staggering odds against vicious three-headed monsters attacking her homeland. Her loyalty, courage, and kindness won me over and her bond with her winged horse left me dazzled."
—Mary E. Pearson,New York Times bestselling author of The Remnant Chronicles
I’m excited
to have this opportunity to chat with N’Rah, one of the heroes of Polly
Holyoke’s new fantasy novel Skyriders. I should mention in passing that
N’Rah happens to be a flying horse, or skysteed, as his breed is known in the
Empire of Prekalt. I also happened to know that this particular skysteed has a
real fondness for honey and apples.
So,
N’Rah, can you tell us a little bit about you and your human’s exciting work as
sky couriers?
My human and
I are very proud of the work we do flying the mail across the vast lands of
Prekalt. Because I am mountain born and bred, I am happy to fly courier routes
through the high peaks. I grew up dealing with the kind of strong winds and
thunderstorms that can frighten other couriers, but not my skyrider. Kie trusts
my judgement and my flying abilities when it comes to extreme weather.
Please
tell us about the human you are bound to, Kiesandra Torsun.
My human is
very brave, kind, and stubborn. I think she spends too much time by herself,
caring for her family’s apple orchard. Her father died a year ago, and her
mother left her when Kie was only six. Her Uncle Dugs lives with us, but he is
so frail now, she looks after him more than he looks after her. The other
students were awful to her at school because she was so shy and had problems
learning to read. It is hard for her to trust others, but I am proud that she
is gradually gaining good friends and a herd of her own.
I hear
her Uncle Dugs was always pestering you two to practice skyfighting.
That is
true, and now it appears to be a very good thing that he did! We would spend
hours learning how to shoot targets that represented the three hearts of the
chimerae, a terrible three-headed monster that once almost destroyed all of
Prekalt. We also learned how to use triwires, a weapon made up of three razor-sharp
wires that are four feet long, weighted with metal balls at the ends and joined
at the center with a small wooden handle. Skyriders throw triwires at a chimerae hoping
to damage its wings or bind its wings to its legs.
How do
you feel about the chimerae?
At first, I
hated them, and I was shocked when they reappeared. Now I understand they were
created from a terrible, dark binding magic that forced three separate creatures--
sand dragons, blood goats and lions-- into the same body. Mostly I feel sorry
for the Foul Ones, but I will not let them harm my skyrider, or our world.
How did
you come to have such an important role in saving Pedarth, the capital city of
Prekalt?
Kie’s uncle
and his skysteed were terribly hurt fighting chimerae after the monsters
returned. He made Kie promise that we would take his great grandfather’s manual
on ancient skyfighting tactics to the capital and persuade people in power there
to read it. That was such a difficult mission for a shy thirteen-year-old
girl from the fringes of the Empire. But with my help and the help of new
friends she made in Pedarth, I am proud to say my human was successful.
What do
you think is next for you and your brave skyrider?
We
desperately need more help in fighting the chimerae, so I think someday we may
have to ask the wild skysteeds to join us in this struggle. Someday, too,
someone will have to discover who is creating chimerae in this time and causing
so much pain and suffering. That human needs to be stopped!
Thank you
for taking the time to talk with me today.
My pleasure.
Now, about those apples and honey cookies you mentioned?
Polly Holyoke is the award-winning author of the middle grade sci-fi Neptune Trilogy (Disney/Hyperion) and the new children’s fantasy series, Skyriders (Viking Children’s Books). A former classroom teacher, Polly loves doing school visits and getting students excited about writing.
Polly grew up in Colorado, where she spent her childhood skiing, camping, reading, and dreaming up fantastical stories. Polly went on to graduate from Middlebury College and become a middle school social studies teacher. She lives with her husband and their two daughters, as well as two cats, two Chihuahuas, and a beagle.
Pictures of the Shark, by Houston native and Dobie Paisano award-winning author Thomas H. McNeely traces a young man's coming of age and falling apart. From the rough and tumble of Houston's early seventies East End to the post-punk Texas bohemia of late eighties Austin, this novel in stories examines what happens when childhood trauma haunts adult lives.
PRAISE FOR PICTURES OF THE SHARK:
“McNeely’s brilliant stories are filled with delicious menace and heartbreaking hope.”
- Pamela Painter, author of What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers and Fabrications: New and Selected Stories
“In these gorgeously crafted interlinked stories, Thomas McNeely demonstrates once again an uncanny ability to illuminate the darkest emotional corners of his characters with a vision that is as tender and compassionate as it is unflinching.”
- Antonio Ruiz-Camacho, author of Barefoot Dogs
“With masterful prose, McNeely draws you down into emotional depths where your ambivalence and confusion show you at your most profoundly human. These stories hook you quickly and deeply and keep you even after they end.
- C.W. Smith, author of Steplings, Buffalo Nickel, and Understanding Women
Thomas H. McNeely is an Eastside Houston native. He has published short stories and nonfiction in The Atlantic, Texas Monthly, Ploughshares, and many other magazines and anthologies, including Best American Mystery Stories and Algonquin Books’ Best of the South. His stories have been shortlisted for the Pushcart Prize, Best American Short Stories, and O. Henry Award anthologies. He has received National Endowment for the Arts, Wallace Stegner and MacDowell Colony fellowships for his fiction. His first book, Ghost Horse, won the Gival Press Novel Award and was shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize in Writing. He currently teaches in the Stanford Online Writing Studio and at Emerson College, Boston.
