Science Fiction and Theology - Part 8 - Robots

Just for the record -- I thought I, Robot with Will Smith was fairly well done, but also for the record, it is a conglomeration of various stories told by Isaac Asimov in his robot series of books and short stories. The movie is based on them but the story told in the movie never appears in Asimov's works at least as far as I know.

Robots are not just science fiction anymore as they do indeed exist and are getting more complex all the time. They real problem with them is cost. It is simply easier in many context to have a human do it because to design a robot to do it and build it would be far more expensive. Until they truly design a robot that can do and act like the ones in I, Robot and are affordable, I just don't see them on every street corner.

The movie and books brought out many of the social issues that could be faced with robots being reality: a safer world with the cost of human ability and freedom. But the largest issue was one of -- can we eventually design a machine that replaces us to the point that that machine is 'alive'? Seems to be a foolish question to Christians as most of us believe life comes from God, but how do we handle it when robots get advanced enough that humans talk about giving them rights? How do we convince people that there is a difference and can we?

There is also a flip side to robots that has been portrayed in movies like the Terminator Series -- what if they take over? Scary option and a bit ironic as the creator becomes enslaved by their creation.

Next: God and Science Fiction