God In the Machine: What Robots Teach Us About Humanity and God

A provocative look at the theological implications of artificial intelligence—and the controversial questions raised by robotics about our very definition of humanity—from the founder of MIT’s God and Computers Project Get ready to meet two remarkable characters, Cog and Kismet. They both enjoy working with others, they’re very attentive, have excellent learning skills, and, according to their colleagues, they’re very charming. And they’re 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 assumptions—about 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.