Abstract

Drawn from ontotheological issues explored in a prescient science fiction novel from the 1980s, this paper speculates about the potential relations and contributions of artificial intelligence to theology and religious practice, together with the legal regimes that might govern them. It concludes that no exploration of the human implications of robotics can ignore the resources of religion and belief in debates about the ethical issues robotics raises; the relation between religion and robotics is relevant to questions about «transhumanism» – the possibility of overcoming the intellectual, biological, and physical limitations of human beings through their use of robotics and artificial intelligence; and incredible as it might seem, one cannot ignore the possibility that robotics and artificial intelligence will uncover the means of developing or evolving a kind of spirituality within machines, with profound implications for religion and law.