THE FATHERS, COMPUTERS AND US

Abstract This essay, designed as a complement to opinions expressed by Rowan Williams and some speakers at the conference in his honour, explores features of early Christianity which suggest a positive evaluation of artificial intelligence. Noting that the fear of reducing humans to machines has been joined in the modern age by the fear that machines could become human, it takes as an example of both trends Frank Tipler’s thesis that humans are destined to survive in the form of digital information. It goes on to suggest that concomitants of our humanity such as embodiment, memory and emotions may not be as highly valued by early Christian writers as by modern opponents of artificial intelligence. It concludes by considering whether the power to love is a sufficient diagnostic of the human in contrast to the artificial.