Robotics Reference
In-Depth Information
also want to read the Bible. Thus a robot will come to understand
concepts such as sin, death, resurrection, and forgiveness. Can a
robot be a Christian? I believe the answer to be yes.
Can a Robot Sin?
For, if a robot can never sin, then he is in no need of the salvation of
Christ's death and resurrection. Robots will have choices to make,
and some of these choices are moral choices. Is it possible that
a robot could [a] know that a choice was wrong, and [b] choose
to take it? It seems to me that whilst it is possible that much of
the time a robot may consciously choose to do what it believes
to be good, it is impossible for it to have perfect knowledge and
therefore will frequently sin due to its living in an imperfect world.
Thus robots will become corrupted by humans. One problem for
Cognitive Science is that the behaviour of an intelligent system is
largely viewed in terms of the knowledge it has. This naturally leads
one to a similar view to Plato's of the nature of evil; namely that a
person sins because they do not know any better. But ultimately it
is probably a question of loving oneself above one's love for other
people; in some sense this is a sort of knowledge, but how it may
be represented is beyond our current scientific understanding.
Of course, it is possible that the robot does sin, does even know
it has sinned, but it may not necessarily have any conviction of
its sinning. In other words, the robot may not ascribe any great
significance to the fact of its sinning. This is a common human
experience: there are plenty of people who lead sinful lives, but do
not examine this deeply and make little attempt to change their
lives. Others may lead fairly moral lives, and even engage in self-
analysis to improve their behaviour, but find no deep conviction of
their sin.
The problem is essentially a question of a knowledge of God. If
God plays no part in a person's life, and God's existence is not even
thought relevant to life, then one is unlikely to see sin as separating
one from God. On the other hand, the person with a knowledge of
God is likely to see how the experience of sin separates them from
God.
Can a Robot Believe in God?
Clearly, a robot on reading the world's religious literature can come
to believe that many humans believe in a divine being known as
God. Humans believe that God is all knowing, that He created the
universe, and that He loves humanity. Will the robot continue to
