Robot Religion

[Ironhold]

Here's a hypothetical for you.

Suppose that we have robots which are not just sentient but actually sapient. For all intents and purposes, they may as well be human beings.

1. Would they have souls?

2. How would they be handled by your faith tradition?

 

[BobRyan]

Here's a hypothetical for you.

Suppose that we have robots which are not just sentient but actually sapient. For all intents and purposes, they may as well be human beings.

1. Would they have souls?

2. How would they be handled by your faith tradition?

1. There is no evolution of mankind from some lower life form in the Bible - Intelligent life is "God created".
2. If men become god's so that they too can create intelligent life - and inform that life the they are the gods that created the new form of life - then men can write their own bible for that new intelligent life to follow.

I don't see that happening.

 

[awitch]

Here's a hypothetical for you.

Suppose that we have robots which are not just sentient but actually sapient. For all intents and purposes, they may as well be human beings.

1. Would they have souls?

I can't answer on behalf of all Pagans, but I would say yes.

2. How would they be handled by your faith tradition?

Not unlike humans or any other animal, I suppose.

 

[jacknife]

You play mass effect? where the robotic geth get enough intelligences to ask if they have souls.

 

[smaneck]

You play mass effect? where the robotic geth get enough intelligences to ask if they have souls.

Good answer. The problem, of course, is that most of our religions were born before there was any such thing as robots.

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

Here's a hypothetical for you.

Suppose that we have robots which are not just sentient but actually sapient. For all intents and purposes, they may as well be human beings.

1. Would they have souls?

2. How would they be handled by your faith tradition?

1. No more and no less than we do. If you are looking for some sort of preternatural "essence", an immortal indentity that exists independently from their mental processes, then the answer is "no" - both WRT homo sapiens and to the robots.
If you are talking about a complex psyche (= gk. soul), then the answer is yes.

2. My personal world view would handle them just the same as any other sapient being. The main difficulty I see is in determining what their particular needs and motivators are.
See, our species' psychological structure is based on very specific needs we share with many other species: finding food, having sex, organizing in social groups. The instincts that derive from this define our behaviour in various ways, and form a vital part of our identity.
Now, all of this would be VERY different for a sapient mind that was based on, say, being a research engine or a personal assistant.

 

[TheBarrd]

I'm a huge fan of Isaac Asimov's "I Robot".
The movie was such a disappointment....

 

[jacknife]

Good answer. The problem, of course, is that most of our religions were born before there was any such thing as robots.

Well in the game a group of them worshiped a race of machine creatures that were around before humans that want to kill all of galactic civilization for very stupid reasons.

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

In Mass Effect 1, the geth were pretty obviously intended as cylon stand-ins, right down to robot spirituality and their worship of unfathomable machine intelligences.
Mass Effect 2 turned the geth into infinitely more complex characters, introducing the idea that a peaceful coexistence was possible. It also featured the concept that the geth were building a dyson sphere, intending to transcend their limitations and become something else entirely.

And Mass Effect 3 flushed it all down the drain by retconning everything we learned in ME2, and replacing it with an ill-conceived tale of unavoidable conflict, technological singularities and plot twists that were incompatible with the internal consistency of the story we saw within the game itself.

 

[jacknife]

In Mass Effect 1, the geth were pretty obviously intended as cylon stand-ins, right down to robot spirituality and their worship of unfathomable machine intelligences.
Mass Effect 2 turned the geth into infinitely more complex characters, introducing the idea that a peaceful coexistence was possible. It also featured the concept that the geth were building a dyson sphere, intending to transcend their limitations and become something else entirely.

And Mass Effect 3 flushed it all down the drain by retconning everything we learned in ME2, and replacing it with an ill-conceived tale of unavoidable conflict, technological singularities and plot twists that were incompatible with the internal consistency of the story we saw within the game itself.

I refuse to admit mass effect 3 happened.

 

[smaneck]

I refuse to admit mass effect 3 happened.

Okay, I obviously haven't the foggiest idea what you young'uns are talking about.

 

[jacknife]

Okay, I obviously haven't the foggiest idea what you young'uns are talking about.

Video games the mass effect series

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

Okay, I obviously haven't the foggiest idea what you young'uns are talking about.

Well, since we don't want to steer the direction towards video games altogether, here is a quick summary of themes introduced by the Mass Effect series:

1. Synthetic life gaining sapience: a "race" of networked artificial intelligences develops self-awareness, its creators panic and try to shut it down. A genocidal war ensues, and the organic creators are forced to leave their homeworld, becoming displaced vagrants.

2. Synthetic life trying to "evolve": the networked intelligences intend to build a "Dyson sphere" and upload into it, creating a new form of intelligence.

3. Technological Singularity: a term that describes the point at which artificial intelligence eclipses its creators.

 

[awitch]

Okay, I obviously haven't the foggiest idea what you young'uns are talking about.

We old timers need a different reference.
Remember Johnny 5?

 

[TheBarrd]

We old timers need a different reference.
Remember Johnny 5?

LOL...yeah....
Johnny 5 was groovy...
Far out!

 

[AV1611VET]

1. Would they have souls?

2. How would they be handled by your faith tradition?

1. No
2. Robots

 

[ViaCrucis]

Here's a hypothetical for you.

Suppose that we have robots which are not just sentient but actually sapient. For all intents and purposes, they may as well be human beings.

1. Would they have souls?

Possibly. That depends entirely on what is meant by "the soul".

2. How would they be handled by your faith tradition?

I'm not aware of any protocols for dealing with sapient AI within Lutheranism. That's a roadblock that probably will need to be addressed when or if we ever get to it.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[ViaCrucis]

I refuse to admit mass effect 3 happened.

It was okay until the end. Until the horrible, horrible, horrible end.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[LoAmmi]

It was okay until the end. Until the horrible, horrible, horrible end.

-CryptoLutheran

Bioware is having problems with endings recently. Inquisition was disappointing to me.

 

[jacknife]

It was okay until the end. Until the horrible, horrible, horrible end.

-CryptoLutheran

Yeah it had some ups to it, although the most fun I ever had with the game was the citidel DLC.