Can Robots Have A Religion?
What could an A.I. possibly think about the concept of faith and believing in something?
Last year I met a great guy at a conference in India. His name is V.S Sabu. Many years ago he became famous building the world’s first robot doing “Puja” in his research lab, but see here for yourself:
The principle of Puja isn’t the only act that has been tried with robots to imitate our human religious concepts and beliefs. One could argue that a much simpler and earlier invention is that of the Tibetan prayer wheels:
The mantra is printed on very thin tissue paper as many times as possible, in some cases numbering in the millions. The paper is wrapped around a spindle and covered with a protective cylinder. In recent years, microfilm technology has allowed billions even trillions of prayers to be invoked with just one turn of the wheel. — Khan Academy
On this auspicious day (Ramadan Kareem to those who celebrate!), I suddenly found myself wondering whether indeed in the future robots could potentially fulfill religious functions, or, even start a religion on their own?
And before you dismiss this as a stupid idea, just see the ending scene of “I, Robot” which depicts an interesting scenario illustrating the beginning of what most religions began with at first: “a movement”.
In the Springer published article “Robot, let us pray!”, the question of whether robots can (or even should) have religious functions is explored in much greater detail:
Whilst the authors ultimately conclude that there is no easy answer to the question of whether robots should have religious functions, they do emphasize the need for careful consideration of the ethical implications and ongoing dialogue between religious communities, technologists, and ethicists.
I may be biased here of course (as is everyone when it comes to the very personal subject of religion — including those scientists that have made scientism their faith), but the one thing I think robots (and even A.I.) would struggle with is the mindful intent of faith that plays a major part in any religious activity.
What’s the point of lighting a candle if you’re not thinking of someone you’re holding close to your heart? What about all those hopes, memories and feelings that go with such loving intent?
How effective is the idea of making certain information flow out into the universe (e.g. by letting bells ring or a prayer wheel move) via a certain “frequency”, be it a mantra, song or prayer but without having human brain wave activity involved?
It’s no secret that I am a fan of meditation, since I wrote about it extensively. However, one thing is crystal clear to me:
Meditation doesn’t begin when we close our eyes. It begins when we close our minds.
Perhaps in that sense, robots have the advantage.
I’ve jokingly said in the past that we know we have reached AGI when AI starts its own religion.
V.S Sabu sir great work 🤩