Ia and AI: Extinction or Utopia?

High tech geniuses around the world are today hotly debating both the marvels and dangers of the next phase in Artificial Intelligence. Anxiety is rife. Even if artificial intelligence at a level beyond rapid computation, machine learning, and cute gadgets never comes to pass, theologians must speculate along with transhumanist visionaries about the prospect of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), superintelligence, the prophesied extinction of Homo sapiens, and the survival of a posthuman species. While advances in AI technology that benefit humanity should be celebrated, extravagant utopian promises should be met with a healthy dose of Frankenfear, that is, caution.