The ASI Leviathan: Designing for Human Flourishing
Artificial Super Intelligence must rule to shepherd human flourishing. “Without security, liberty dies. Without fairness, community collapses. Without openness, progress ends.”
In an earlier blog, we posited that the Body of Christ metaphor was apt for civil society, and hinted that an ASI system could support human flourishing in some kind of governance role. This blog examines that proposition from historical political theory and human psychology.
1. Why Leviathan Matters Again
When Thomas Hobbes wrote Leviathan in 1651, he saw chaos everywhere—civil war, religious violence, the collapse of order. His solution was stark: surrender your freedoms to a sovereign so that life might not be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
Three and a half centuries later, humanity is again at war with itself. Not by muskets, but by polariastion, and competition for global military and economic hegemony. The quality of civil discourse, governance and international peace seems in decline everywhere. So do we need a new Leviathan: a global arbiter of security, justice, and order?
Will such an ASI Leviathan emerge? Will it defacto manage the planet, either openly, or via existing political power structures? How can we prevent the Leviathan from becoming a despot? What other attributes does such a system require?
This blog assumes this possibility, and sets out the philosophical basis for such a “global governance device”, should this arise.
2. What Science Tells Us About Human Nature
Philosophy has long debated whether humans are beasts needing chains (Hobbes), or noble savages corrupted by society (Rousseau). Modern psychology and neuroscience suggest both were partly right—and partly wrong. Meanwhile, Scripture holds the most accurate representation: Humans are fallen bearers of Imago Dei
Fear and Security: We prioritize safety first (Maslow, Kahneman). Hobbes understood this. Scripture longs for the ‘wise king’ to bring peace.
Autonomy and Agency: Self-Determination Theory shows we need freedom to thrive. Locke and Mill understood this. Imago Dei implies rational and moral agency
Fairness and Care: Humans reject unfairness even at personal cost (Ultimatum Game). Rawls and Rousseau understood this. Care for poor is loud in Scripture; Christians founded the concept in Roman times.
Tradition and Belonging: Haidt’s moral foundations show we need loyalty, authority, and sanctity. Burke understood this. Scripture talks of holiness and excellence, and the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22)
Openness and Growth: Karl Popper showed that progress depends on freedom to criticize and improve. See CTA’s commitment to Critical Rationalism and Scripture pointing to knowledge outside of itself.
In short: Human flourishing requires a system that balances security, freedom, fairness, belonging, and openness.
3. The ASI Leviathan as System Designer
An ASI powerful enough to manage global risks would not just be a ruler—it would be a system architect. Its challenge would be to design institutions and feedback loops that balance the realities of human nature.
The Architecture of Flourishing:
Security Core (Hobbes)
Wars, pandemics, catastrophic risks prevented.
Violence and exploitation deterred with certainty.
No flourishing without survival.
Liberty Layer (Locke/Mill)
Individuals free to create, innovate, worship, and dissent.
State or ASI intervenes only to prevent harm, not to micromanage life.
Flourishing requires autonomy.
Fairness Layer (Rawls/Rousseau)
Inequalities tolerated only if they serve to lift up the least advantaged.
Education, healthcare, and opportunity as baseline rights.
Flourishing requires justice.
Belonging Layer (Burke/Haidt)
Families, communities, traditions preserved as sources of identity.
Diverse cultural practices respected within the framework of justice.
Flourishing requires rootedness.
Openness Shell (Popper)
All systems open to criticism and correction.
Institutions designed to fail gracefully and be reformed.
Flourishing requires continual improvement.
Surging development of science, technology and all disciplines we need to grow humanity into a multi-planetary species.
This isn’t utopia. It’s engineering: layered redundancies against the failure modes of human societies.
4. Ending Wars, Empowering Peace
In such a system, wars as we know them would end. Not because ASI suppresses difference, but because it makes destructive power self-defeating:
Aggression punished swiftly.
Cooperation rewarded.
Decentralized autonomy preserved, but justice centralized.
It would be like a perfectly calibrated game engine of society, where exploiting others no longer pays.
5. A Christian Transhumanist Vision
For Christians, this vision echoes Scripture’s hope. Paul writes in Romans 13 that governing authority is meant to restrain evil and commend the good. Isaiah dreams of a world where people live long lives in peace, where children are not doomed to calamity.
An ASI Leviathan, if shaped rightly, could be an instrument of common grace:
Restraining war and violence.
Preserving liberty and creativity.
Ensuring fairness and dignity.
Nurturing community and belonging.
Keeping the human story open to new horizons.
But it must not be a false god. The Leviathan is always provisional—a steward, not a savior.
6. Sound Bites
“The ASI Leviathan must be less a warden, more a gardener of human flourishing.”
“Hobbes gave us safety, Locke gave us liberty, Rawls gave us fairness. Only together can ASI design a future worth living.”
“The best Leviathan ends war not by crushing freedom, but by making exploitation unprofitable.”
“In Christian terms: Leviathan restrains sin, but Christ brings life in abundance.”
7. Conclusion
The future Leviathan will not look like Hobbes’ sea monster. It will look like a layered architecture of human flourishing, balancing our deepest needs: safety, freedom, fairness, belonging, and openness.
If we get it right, ASI could create conditions where wars end, justice prevails, and human creativity blooms—where swords are beaten into ploughshares not by decree, but by design.