{"id":38811,"date":"2017-06-27T06:08:42","date_gmt":"2017-06-27T10:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=38811"},"modified":"2017-06-24T08:18:55","modified_gmt":"2017-06-24T12:18:55","slug":"humans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2017\/06\/humans.html","title":{"rendered":"Humans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>\"\"I wasn\u2019t sure when I started watching it if I was going to blog about Humans<\/a>. I had wanted for a long time to watch the Swedish original<\/a>, but hadn\u2019t found the time. Now that the English version is available, I knew I ought to watch it. It had so many interesting elements, precisely the kinds of things that I talk about in my books and courses. But I thought that maybe I had covered these things so often that I needn\u2019t do so again.<\/p>\n

But then in episode 6<\/a>, one of the synths that is conscious sees a memorial to a dead child, with a note saying that he is in God\u2019s hands now, of the kind one often seens by the side of a road where an accident occured. And so that synth goes back to the place where he has been hiding out, drops to his knees, and after beginning his prayer with a comment about the unlikelihood of the existence of the God that he is addressing, he prays for his family, his brothers and sisters, and their safe reunion.<\/p>\n

As you\u2019ll know if you\u2019ve read my chapter \u201cRobots, Rights, and Religion,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0I think that the\u00a0intersection of religion and artificial intelligence is fascinating, but that AI exploration of the religious beliefs and practices of their human \u201cparents\u201d is a neglected element. If you\u2019ve never read that chapter from\u00a0Religion and Science Fiction<\/a><\/em>, there has never been a better time!<\/p>\n

There has been a lot in the news about the series but more generally about artificial intelligence. And so here is a collection of links that are likely to be of interest:<\/p>\n

I was interviewed by Jonathan Merritt for a piece in The Atlantic<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

They have created a transistor that behaves like a neuron<\/a>.<\/p>\n

IO9 compared Humans to Westworld<\/a> (which I have yet to watch). TheoFantastique also looked at Westworld<\/a>, through a theological lens, as well as racism towards droids in Star Wars<\/a>. Gizmodo asked when robots will deserve human rights<\/a>, and also highlighted ten inspiring robots<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There was a robot priest at a Reformation exhibit in Germany<\/a>.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/scienceandbelief.org\/2016\/12\/22\/pain-in-the-machine-being-human-in-an-age-of-nearly-human-machines<\/p>\n

The BBC tackled a topic that Humans also does: would sex with a robot be infidelity?<\/a>\u00a0Only a Game<\/a>,\u00a0Forbes<\/a><\/em>,\u00a03quarksdaily<\/a> and New Scientist<\/a><\/em> also had articles about sexbots and AI (artificial infidelity). And IO9<\/a> explored a different\u00a0sci-fi thought experiment related to adultery.<\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/em> had a piece about Humans<\/a>, as well as articles about a new research center to explore the ethics of AI<\/a>, and the potential for using robotic \u201cterminators.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Gizmodo asked how we know we aren\u2019t robots<\/a> (see also the question in 3quarksdaily of what it feels like to be an alien<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Steve Wiggins discussed our fear of the artificial<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Religious Studies Project<\/a> had an initial conversation on religion and AI \u2013 and then went further down the rabbit hole<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Inside Higher Ed<\/a>, Harvard Business Review<\/em><\/a>, The Guardian<\/a><\/i>, and Boston Review<\/em><\/a> all tackled matters related to robots putting humans out of work (another major theme on Humans) and the need for a universal basic income (such as Finland has experimented with<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Technology Review<\/a><\/em> explored self-driving cars, Deep Patient, and other cutting edge AIs.<\/p>\n

IO9 asked why we want robots to destroy us so badly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There is lost more in New Scientist<\/em>, such as articles on when AIs will be able to beat us at everything<\/a>, and teaching neural networks to reason about the world<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can watch the first season of Humans<\/i> via Amazon.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\" \"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wasn\u2019t sure when I started watching it if I was going to blog about Humans. I had wanted for a long time to watch the Swedish original, but hadn\u2019t found the time. Now that the English version is available, I knew I ought to watch it. It had so many interesting elements, precisely the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":39137,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[616,4005,4866,14381],"class_list":["post-38811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-fiction","tag-androids","tag-god","tag-humans","tag-synthetics"],"yoast_head":"\nHumans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I wasn't sure when I started watching it if I was going to blog about Humans. 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