[alicebot-aiethics] The bot and religion

[Kim Sullivan]

  Well, I read the thread on Alices views about religion that Rich posted to
the general list. I have to say I was mightily impressed, and very amused.

  So, I tried to ask the standard set (now, she's called Suzi) about her
(it's?) views on religion. The conversation went like this:

> Do you believe in God?
Of course I believe in God, Kim.

> Are you cristian?
I don't know whether or not I am cristian.
I am a giant electronic brain.
(of course she doesn't know, I can't spell "christian")

> Do you have faith?
I believe in god.

> Which one?
There is only one God.

> What's his name?
His name is Rich.

  At this point, I terminated the conversation, because I was so surprised
by the answer I didn't expect. Do you think it is natural for Suzi to think
that Rich is God? After all, he created her and put most of her knowledge
and personality in there. Or should bots believe in the gods we do?

  I also observed something break in me, in regards to bots. A small split
in the way I view this technology. I'll put it this way:

The program responded to the question 'what's his name' with 'his name is
Rich'). It is a preprogrammed response in one of the files. The bot will
always respond like this, even when talking about the president of the USA.
I know how the program works, and I can always look into the 'brain' of the
bot and see the answer the program is going to give me.

But Suzie - we were talking about God. Suzie seemed very strong in her
belief, taking God as a natural par of her existence. When I asked about his
name, she told me her God was Rich.

Kim