Synopses & Reviews
A provocative look at the theological implications of artificial intelligenceand the controversial questions raised by robotics about our very definition of humanityfrom the founder of MITs God and Computers Project Get ready to meet two remarkable characters, Cog and Kismet. They both enjoy working with others, theyre very attentive, have excellent learning skills, and, according to their colleagues, theyre very charming.
And theyre both robots. From Hollywood to the halls of NASA, robots loom large in the popular imagination. But what feelings do these lifelike machines really provoke in us? In God in the Machine, Dr. Anne Foerst draws on her expertise as both a theologian and computer scientist to address the profound questions that robots such as Cog and Kismet raise for us all: What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to have a soul? And what do robots teach us about our relationship with God?
God in the Machine challenges many popular assumptionsabout the Bible, about the meaning of community, and especially about the fundamental distinctions between humanity and the artificial beings we create. Dr. Foerst shares intriguing observations about the ways we define human versus person and asks what we must do in order for all humans to be treated as equal persons.
Original, controversial, and deeply insightful, God in the Machine illuminates the exciting and little-understood new terrain that lies at the intersection of technology and religion, science and faith.
About the Author
Dr. Anne Foerst is a former research scientist at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT, where she also founded and directed the God and Computers Project. The only robotics theologian in the country, her work has captured much media attention, including coverage in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and Science. She is currently a visiting professor of theology and computer science at St. Bonaventure University.
Table of Contents
Contents Introduction 1
Chapter 1
Re-creating Ourselves 11
Chapter 2
Embodied Science 42
Chapter 3
Embodied Intelligence 77
Chapter 4
Embodied Community 112
Chapter 5
The Community of Human and Nonhuman Persons 153
Bibliography 191
Index 197