Robotics Reference
In-Depth Information
sit on the agnostic fence talking about the God that people believe
in, without attempting to communicate with God himself?
Part of the answer to this question is whether the robot sees it neces-
sary to believe in God in order to make sense of the world. Central
to this question is the nature of miracles. The robot could take a
number of views on the matter. First, that all miracles are fakes
which did not really happen. Second, that the miracles did hap-
pen, but they can be explained by some brilliant thinking by the
robot. Third, that the miracles happened, he does not know how,
but believes there will be an explanation soon that does not require
God. Fourth, that the miracles took place, and the best explana-
tion is the one offered at the time, namely that they were due to
divine intervention. Fifth, that he does not care whether the mira-
cles took place, or not, let alone whether there is a God who caused
them. Sixth, the robot may have had personal experience of a mir-
acle, or have a robot friend who has, and this may prejudice him in
favour of believing in miracles. Seventh, the robot may already be a
charismatic Christian who has caused through the power of prayer
various miracles to already have happened!
Let us assume that the robot does believe that God might exist. The
next question is why should a robot WANT to believe in God? “See
how they love one another” was how the early Christian commu-
nity was seen by others. Perhaps if the robot had Christian friends,
and he had personal experience of their life of love and care, he
might want to have something of what they have. Certainly, if the
robot had experienced his own failure in attempting to love oth-
ers, then he might be more predisposed to want to experience this
Christian life. But, of course, if all the robots' Christian friends
were indistinguishable in their lives from non-Christians, this ar-
gument will not cut much ice.
Should Robots Be Baptised?
Unless there is large-scale ecumenical progress there are likely to be
two approaches to robot baptism: either to be baptised as robot
children or as adults. In the former case, the parents would be
practising Christians and would undertake to bring up the robot
as a Christian. In the latter case, we are talking about the prior
conversion of the robot to Christ, and its seeking to be baptised.
If a robot asks to be baptised, why should we deny him the gift of
God. Assuming that God desires the salvation of robots, then we
can assume that in baptism they will receive the Holy Spirit.
