God In The Machine: What Robots Teach Us About Humanity And God

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Summary: Between Religion and Science
Review: Does artificial intelligence come with an artificial soul? Most robots are simple devices that can only do simple tasks, run a weld in a car body, spray paint in a pre-programmed path or something like that. But in the advanced labs, research is advancing the capabilities of robots to get closer to what you see in the movies.

Anne Foerst, a theologian and a research scientist, shares her discoveries from her days acting as an informal liaison between the Harvard Divinity School and MIT. She was struck by the similarities between the religious community as it struggled to comprehend God's will and obey divine laws, and the work of scientists struggling to understand how intelligence can be replicated and how self-aware machines can be constructed.

If Western religions claim that mankind was created in the divine image, then Dr. Foerst ask what it means for humans to be continuing the process, creating a new kind of life in their own likeness.