What Would C. S. Lewis Have Thought of AI?
Drawing from his writings, the article suggests C. S. Lewis would have been skeptical of AI, viewing it as human hubris that attempts to transcend natural limits and replace organic experience with mechanical imitation, ultimately risking dehumanization.
Background
C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) was a British scholar and author best known for *The Chronicles of Narnia* and his Christian apologetics works like *Mere Christianity*. He was also a professor of medieval and Renaissance literature at Oxford and Cambridge. This article explores how Lewis's ideas about reason, imagination, and human nature might apply to modern artificial intelligence. Lewis never wrote about computers or AI directly, but he wrote extensively about science, technology, and the risk of "magic" — using power without wisdom. His friend J. R. R. Tolkien shared similar concerns. The essay draws on Lewis's *The Abolition of Man* (a critique of value-free education) and his science-fiction trilogy (the "Space Trilogy," especially *That Hideous Strength*), which portrays technology used to control humans. The article is from *Chronicles*, a magazine of conservative cultural and political commentary. For readers unfamiliar with Lewis, the key context is his Christian humanist worldview: humans are not just brains or data, but whole persons with souls, accountable to a moral order outside themselves.