The Leading eBooks Store Online
for Kindle Fire, Apple, Android, Nook, Kobo, PC, Mac, Sony Reader...
Apocalyptic AI
Visions of Heaven in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Virtual Reality
US$ 20.99
(+ tax)
Preview (read now)
Add to my own site
Give this ebook to a friend
Add to my wishlist
Author's page
Publisher's page
Devices
- iPad
- PC
- e-readers with Adobe Digital Editions installed
- Mac
See the full list
Available Devices
X
This book is available for the following devices:
- iPad
- Windows
- Mac
- Sony Reader
- Cool-er Reader
- Nook
- Kobo Reader
- iRiver Story
File Formats
Download: secure PDF.
Permissions
Printing
Copy/Paste
Read Aloud
Printing
Copy/Paste
Read Aloud
more
Apocalyptic AI, the hope that we might one day upload our minds into machines or cyberspace and live forever, is a surprisingly wide-spread and influential idea, affecting everything from the world view of online gamers to government research funding and philosophical thought. In Apocalyptic AI, Robert Geraci offers the first serious account of this "cyber-theology" and the people who promote it. Drawing on interviews with roboticists and AI researchers and with devotees of the online game Second Life, among others, Geraci illuminates the ideas of such advocates of Apocalyptic AI as Hans Moravec and Ray Kurzweil. He reveals that the rhetoric of Apocalyptic AI is strikingly similar to that of the apocalyptic traditions of Judaism and Christianity. In both systems, the believer is trapped in a dualistic universe and expects a resolution in which he or she will be translated to a transcendent new world and live forever in a glorified new body. Equally important, Geraci shows how this worldview shapes our culture. For instance, Apocalyptic AI has influenced funding agencies such as the National Science Foundation, helping to prioritize robotics and AI research. It has become the ideology of choice for online gamers, such as those involved in Second Life; it has had a profound impact on the study of the mind; and it has inspired scientists and theologians alike to wonder about the super robots of the future. Should we think of robots as persons? What kind of morality would intelligent robots espouse? Apocalyptic AI has become a powerful force in modern culture. In this superb volume, Robert Geraci shines a light on this belief system, revealing what it is and how it is changing society.
less
Subject categories
- Academic > Religion > Natural theology > Religion and science
- Academic > Religion > Religion (General)
- Academic > Religion > American
- Philosophy > Ethics & Moral Philosophy
- Philosophy > Religious
- Psychology & Psychiatry > Cognitive Psychology
- Social Science > Sociology of Religion
- Computers > Artificial Intelligence
- Science
- Religion
ISBNs
0199741336
9780195393026
9780199741335