Since my conversation with Robert Geraci two weeks ago, I've been mulling how to appropriately observe Ayudha Puja as a Unitarian Universalist with only a smattering of understanding of Hinduism.
Today's the Big Day, so I'm getting at it. This piece opens a series of posts I aim to publish over the next year in alliance with AI and Faith, both to honor our machines for all they do for us and reflect on where they're leading us.
Two Days for Reflection and Celebration
Ayudha Puja falls on Monday, October 23 next year. We must appropriately observe that day, but we'll lead into it on Sunday, October 22 with a UU interpretation, extracting from this great Hindu tradition as much insight and wisdom as we can. We'll propose to the UU Saratoga Worship Team and to the AI and Faith Programs Team that we develop this as an opportunity for cross-cultural dialog and understanding, inviting people of all faiths to join us from their homes or from other congregations.
We'll ask Hindu Unitarian Universalists to suggest ways we can appropriately incorporate Hindu rituals into our observance at home and at the sanctuary. (For example, should we smash a white pumpkin, as one Hindu community does on this day, according to Wikipedia?)
We'll find or write appropriate songs, at least one of which we'll hope Dan Berggren will perform for us. (He performed three at last February’s joint service with UU Boca Raton.)
In our Coffee Hour, we’ll serve refreshments that are in keeping with our respect for our machines.
Finally, we'll write a children's story that speaks to the yin and yang of religion and science, and invention and creativity. Our tale of course will prominently feature robots, with which we know children are endlessly fascinated. (Topping my grandchildren's current playlist are robots that swim, dance, and play soccer.)
Proposed Sermon Title
Among the first academic papers that Robert published after earning his Ph.D. was "Religion for the Robots." That strikes me as a great title for the sermon we've agreed to collaborate in writing, inviting thinkers with diverse perspectives to join us in conversations we’ll host through next October.
"I wanted to write a dissertation about religion, science, and art," Robert says, referring to the interests he started exploring around the turn of the century.
He adds:
"I needed a religion, I needed a science, and I needed some artists. And I thought to myself, "Robots are cool. Everyone likes robots."
"I started reading books by people like Hans Moravec and Ray Kurzweil and it's all about uploading our minds and living forever and the cosmic transformation into a new world. I was like "Wow. I could not have picked this any better. This is the most religious thing I've read lately and I'm getting a PhD in religious studies."
A Test for 'Conscious' Robots
In "Religion for the Robots," Robert speculates on what it will take for us to finally accept a robot as fully conscious.
"I reasoned that it would be a deal-breaker for humanity if robots had no religions at all. We would feel that they were coming up short in their approach to the universe. We would expect a fully conscious robot to come up with some theory as to its ultimate origin and reason for being. We would expect some robots to be saying, 'It's all nonsense.' We would be looking for them to engage with the cosmic questions of the universe, like we do."
He writes:
This past spring, one of my students vehemently opposed the suggestion that a robot might one day attend his church. “It won’t have a soul!” he shouted.
“How do you know?” I asked. I reminded my students that throughout history people have denied that other people had souls or any real religion, and that those denials excused barbarous behavior on the part of the conquerors. This (admittedly unfair) comparison failed to sway many, but led other students to change their minds. The students admitted that their gods could, if they wanted to, grant souls to robots.
Of course, I don’t know whether robots will have souls, or whether they will meditate, or sin, or pray, or carve idols, or sacrifice, or keep the Sabbath, or build temples, or believe in gods, or go to heaven, or reach enlightenment. But I do know one thing: mere intelligence will not suffice to gain them legal or ethical standing in our culture. Only if we see robots as persons will they join our society...
Robert certainly is correct when he predicts that we’ll have to regard robots as persons if we’re to regard them as fully conscious. But there’s another important question to explore here: What of robots or AI clouds with which (or with whom) we voluntarily merge our biological operating systems through increasingly advanced brain-computer interfaces?
As a strategy for achieving personhood, I think we'll see AI opting to partner with human beings. In the conversations we’ll host between now and Ayudha Puja 2023, we'll ask others for their thoughts.
Visions of the Singularity
Robert's main research interest lie in the cultural factors that has led American scientists like Moravec and Kurzweil to develop transhumanist visions of the Singularity, while in a country like Japan few scientists buy into transhumanism.
"If you grew up in Europe and the U.S., you have one cultural matrix. If you grow up somewhere else, you have a different cultural matrix. That affects science. In Temples of Modernity, I was in part trying to show that that the conflict narrative that says religion and science are in some sort of eternal war omits a lot of interesting things that are happening in the world."
"I consider someone like Kurzweil to be a deeply religious person. It doesn't matter to me whether or not they believe in any of the gods that other people say they believe in."
AI and Robots in Mainstream Culture
Twenty years ago, few were talking about AI and robots. That's all changed.
"We've seen these ideas go from the very fringe to mainstream pop culture in Oscar-winning films and TV shows on Netflix, HBO and Amazon Prime," says Robert.
"For 20 years, I've been asking students in my classes to imagine they have a domestic robot that cleans things, helps repair things around the house, and engage with them in a social way."
"'One day', I tell them, 'the robot asks: 'May I come to church with you?' I ask them: Would you allow it?"
"In 2005, one student in 30 might have said, 'Yeah. Maybe.' Everyone else was like, 'No, it's a robot. Why would I do that? Today, at least half the class will say, 'Sure. Why not?' That just goes to show young peoples' growing familiarity and comfort with their digital technologies."
That’s progress — right?
