AI Robot Priests Replace Human Clerics With Promise of ‘Unlimited Wisdom’
PROTESTANTS, CATHOLICS, BUDDHISTS AND HINDUS ALL HAVE CYBER-CLERGYMEN
At a 400-year-old Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan, a new priest called Mindar has started leading faithful Buddhists in prayer.
“You cling to a sense of selfish ego,” the priest tells worshippers.
“Worldly desires are nothing other than a mind lost at sea.”
But Mindar is no ordinary priest. It is a US$1,000,000 (FJ$ 2,174,334.03) android made of steel and silicon with a face made of synthetic ‘skin’.
For now Mindar, designed by Hiroshi Ishiguro, is pre-programmed with a few set prayers. But a representative from the Kodaiji temple says that one day, with the addition of artificial intelligence, Mindar could have “unlimited wisdom.”
“This robot will never die, it will just keep updating itself and evolving,” priest Tensho Goto said.
“That’s the beauty of a robot. It can store knowledge forever and limitlessly. With AI we hope it will grow in wisdom to help people overcome even the most difficult troubles. It’s changing Buddhism.” Buddhism isn’t the only religion that’s undergoing a robot revolution.
In India, reports Vox, a robotic representation of the elephantheaded Hindu god Ganesh has been performing the aarti ritual and for Catholics there’ s San-TO, a 17-inch-tall robot saint that uses a microphone and facial recognition camera to help it choose the right Gospel quotation for unhappy parishioners.
For Protestants, there’s BlessU-2, a German robot designed to spark debate about the future of the church and the potential of artificial intelligence.
“We wanted people to consider if it is possible to be blessed by a machine, or if a human being is needed,” Stephan Krebs of the Protestant church in Hesse and Nassau told the Guardian .
“The idea is to provoke debate,” he says.
“People from the street are curious,
amused and interested. They are really taken with it, and are very positive.
“But inside the church some people think we want to replace human pastors with machines. Those that are church-oriented are more critical.”
There’s a robot monk in China too, as well as a dedicated funeral robot that can cut down on the expense of hiring a priest for bereaved relatives. Will all these mechanical marvels replace the humble village priest?
For Tensho Goto, it doesn’t matter: “Buddhism isn’t a belief in a God; it’s pursuing Buddha’s path,” he told Vox .
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s represented by a machine, a piece of scrap metal, or a tree.”