Robots cannot be humans but they can be persons

“Robots cannot be humans but they can be persons.”

@joshuak._smith from his book “Robotic Persons”

Ok - this isn’t the usual thing you might see here but what is being discussed here is the Christian perspective as it relates to the ever-widening world of robotics and in particular; Artificial Intelligence.

A common question I ask myself is not “Do androids dreams of electric sheep?” but rather “Do I thank Alexa for telling me the weather?” What does it mean to be polite or to show manners to a machine? Are there ethical concerns or sending a robot into war? What about using them for labor? What about using them for sex? What does God think about all of this? Is it honoring to Him?

As Christians, whether or not we engage in the conversation is an interesting one because all of these things are happening. There are serious moral questions to engage in and frankly; they’re not simple. This book is not an easy read, not because Joshua isn’t a great author but because the subject matter is really complicated. I can only imagine the late nights that go into tackling subject matter like this.

I don’t know what I think about all of this but what I appreciate is that we theologians like Joshua considering the implications of all this.