The Robot as Person: Robotic Futurism and A Theology of Human Ethical Responsibility Among Humanoid Machines Open Access
DeBaets, Amy Michelle (2012)
Abstract
Abstract
The Robot as Person:
Robotic Futurism and A Theology of Human Ethical Responsibility
Among
Humanoid Machines
A world in which humans and robots coexist is one with tremendous
possibilities for
good and ill. Futurist thought in robotics has contributed both
positively and negatively to
the development of humanoid robots to this point, offering ideas
and values about what it
means to be human and what it could be for a robot to be a moral
person. Some of the
more popular forms of robotic futurism have tended to overemphasize
intellection and a
disembodied mind as the ultimate form of existence, while the more
constructive forms
have looked at human emotional and social interactions and
patterned their robots after
them. Robots that are embodied, sociable, and situated in their
environment and history
are ones that begin to mirror humanity and the beings that we
consider to be morally
valuable in themselves. But robotics and related psychology do not
offer a complete
picture into the possibilities for robotic personhood in
interaction with human beings. It is
here that theology can provide a useful history of reflection and
understanding of
personhood beyond the human that can begin to develop creative
possibilities for the
future direction of robotic personhood as well. Fully humanoid
robots, then, could
embody the qualities of freedom and constraint, goodness and
fallenness, finitude and
transcendence, and embodied spirituality that characterize human
personal life. These
qualities can be considered in the development of robustly humanoid
robots in a number
of different application areas and the ethical effects of those
developments can be better
understood using these criteria. Humanoid robots can perform jobs
that humans cannot or
would not do, they can change the ethical calculus of war, and they
may even be able to
provide genuine companionship and friendship to human beings, but
they need to be
designed in such a way as to facilitate human flourishing first, so
that robotic flourishing
can follow.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Acronym List
1
Introduction
2
Chapter 1: Key Questions About Humanoid Robotics and Ethics
10
Of Humans and Our Machines
10
Why the Contributions of Theology?
16
Theological Reflections on Humanoid Robotics
20
The Theological Idea of the "Person"
31
Project Summary
36
Applications for Humanoid Robotics
39
Policy and Funding of Humanoid Robotics Development
46
Chapter 2: Robotic Futurism and the Idea of the "Person"
50
Ray Kurzweil
53
Hans Moravec
63
Marvin Minsky
72
J. Storrs Hall
81
Rodney Brooks
90
Cynthia Breazeal
98
The Influence of Robotic Futurism on Humanoid Robotics Development
101
Chapter 3: Ethical Implications of Robotic Futurism on the Development of Humanoid Robots
105
Ethical Implications of Robotic Futurism
105
Anthropological Problems in Robotic Futurism:
108
1. Neo-Cartesian Materialist Dualism
108
2. Techno-immortality / Uploading
112
3. Evolution and the "Law of Accelerating Returns"
117
4. Determinism and Political Quietism
121
5. Political Naivete / Technology Solving Social Problems
124
6. Politics and Privilege Without Recognition
128
Constructive Anthropological Possibilities in Robotic Futurism:
130
1. Theory of Mind - Emergence, Emotion, and Ethics
131
2. Embodiment
137
3. Sociality
139
4. Situatedness
141
Futurism and Theology: Toward a Robotic Anthropology
142
Chapter 4: Theological Anthropology for Contemporary Technoscience
144
Philip Hefner and Brent Waters: Two Theological Lenses on the (Human) Person
144
Philip Hefner and the Created Co-Creator
146
Brent Waters and the Embodied-Finite-Mortal Creature
161
Hefner and Waters Reframed and Reformed
174
Embodiment, Sociality, and Situatedness in Christian Theological Anthropology
186
Chapter 5: Robotic Anthropology and the Future of Humanoid Robots
194
Widening the Circle of Grace
194
Robots as Objects of Moral Action
198
Moral Action and Moral Value
199
Robots, Pets, and Chimps
204
Relation to Human Beings as Objects of Moral Action
208
Robots as Subjects of Moral Action
209
Three Futurist Concepts: Embodiment, Sociality, and Situatedness
210
An Irreducible Who-ness: Theological Features of Created Persons
213
Freedom and Constraint
213
Goodness and Fallenness
218
Finitude and Transcendence
221
Image of God
224
Impact and Future Possibilities for Human and Robotic Personhood
232
Theology and the Politics of Technology
232
Skepticism About Privilege and Power Relations
233
Concern for the Least: See What (and Who) is Obscured
235
Beyond Utopia and Dystopia
240
Technology is Neither the (Ultimate) Problem Nor the (Ultimate) Solution
241
Toward the Ethical Development of Humanoid Robots
241
Labor Replacement and Human Services
242
Military and Defense
245
Love and Sex
248
Conclusion
254
Bibliography
256
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