# The spirituality of robots and A.I.s, in fiction. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 31, 2004, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spirituality-of-robots-and-a-i-s-in-fiction/237482 "2004-03-31T06:31:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spirituality-of-robots-and-a-i-s-in-fiction/237482/1 "2004-03-31T06:31:30Z")
A slightly odd question…are there any works of fiction that deal _specifically_ with the subject of theology/spirituality, and Artificial Intelligences (Robots, Androids, A.I. computers, etc.)? And, if so, how “supernatural” have they gotten? Has there ever been a scene showing an android’s spirit dwelling in an afterlife? Have there been any robot ghosts? Well, thanks for listening to me babble, Ranchoth ---
**Author:** ![owlofcreamcheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@owlofcreamcheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlofcreamcheese)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spirituality-of-robots-and-a-i-s-in-fiction/237482/2 "2004-03-31T06:38:49Z")
there was a (series?) of books that were the year’s best short stories about religion in sci-fi, many many many of the stories were about robots. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spirituality-of-robots-and-a-i-s-in-fiction/237482/3 "2004-03-31T07:03:56Z")
One of the short stories in “I, Robot” deals with a robot that’s designed to be inquisitive and curious as to its own origins. It almost immediately decides that, since it is a more perfect being than the humans that assembled it, it must have been created by a higher power, and promptly declares itself the prophet of the one true master. On a more recent note, last year’s Battlestar Galactica series touched briefly on the idea that the invading Cylons had “found religion” in a sense, and believed that it was their Manifest Destiny to rule the universe because mankind had displeased God. We’ll see more of this in the series this fall, I hope. ---
**Author:** ![Clear\_Air\_Turbulence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@Clear\_Air\_Turbulence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clear_Air_Turbulence)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spirituality-of-robots-and-a-i-s-in-fiction/237482/4 "2004-03-31T12:21:45Z")
I read a short story where the Final Battle between Good and Evil had come. The world was invaded by armies of demons from hell, and man was fighting them with all the war machines we had available. After the final confrontation the demons are defeated, and no humans have died, while there are a lot of wrecked war robots on the battlefield. God then returns, and starts resurrecting the robots and taking them into Heaven, leaving the humans behind. I liked that one. ---
**Author:** ![Jane\_D\_oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/839c29/32.png) [@Jane\_D\_oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jane_D_oh)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spirituality-of-robots-and-a-i-s-in-fiction/237482/5 "2004-03-31T13:29:38Z")
I am going to recommend “He,She, and It” by Marge Piercy. It is an interesting dual story about a golum in the Jewish ghetto at the beginning of the 20th century and an AI in a dystopian community at some point in the future (I don’t remember exactly how far in the future it is placed.) Interesting exploration of relationships as well asa a grat piece of fiction. (IMHO) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spirituality-of-robots-and-a-i-s-in-fiction/237482/6 "2004-03-31T16:33:41Z")
In Red Dwarf (cult British comedy) Kryten believes in a “silicon heaven”, where “the toaster shall lie with the lamp.” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spirituality-of-robots-and-a-i-s-in-fiction/237482/7 "2004-03-31T17:38:37Z")
Anthony Boucher’s “The Quest for Saint Aquin” (1951) is one of the first and best stories on this theme. It’s been reprinted a million times so it should be easy to find. [Here](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pw.cgi?881b48) are some of the anthologies it is in. ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spirituality-of-robots-and-a-i-s-in-fiction/237482/8 "2004-03-31T17:54:56Z")
_Futurama_ had a [Robot Hell](http://www.gotfuturama.com/Information/Encyc-99-Robot_Hell/), presided over by [Beelzebot](http://www.gotfuturama.com/Information/Encyc-98-Beelzebot/). Unfortunately, I’m only familiar with Robert Silverberg’s [Good News from the Vatican](http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/Ebook1980.htm) from its synopsis about the election of a robot pope, so I don’t know if it addresses robot spirituality. I suppose I could come up with 49 cents and read it, but I’m at work. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spirituality-of-robots-and-a-i-s-in-fiction/237482/9 "2004-03-31T18:43:25Z")
_Deus Ex_ (the video game) had an interesting side area where you got to chat with an AI. The AI said that mankind had gods because it had a deep-seated need to be judged by an objective greater being and that it had been created to fill this need in a time when religion was on the wane. Deus Ex was actually full of those moments. Very uneven writing but fantastic in parts. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spirituality-of-robots-and-a-i-s-in-fiction/237482/10 "2004-03-31T18:58:06Z")
Perhaps a bit of a tangent, but Asimov’s short story _The Last Question_ is arguably the last word on this. Or maybe the first. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spirituality-of-robots-and-a-i-s-in-fiction/237482/11 "2004-03-31T20:14:10Z")
In Arthur C. Clarke’s _2010_, (the sequel to _2001: a Space Odyssey_), when Dave Bowman becomes a godlike being, he is feeling a bit lonely. So he takes the consciousness of the Hal 9000 computer, and turns Hal into a godlike being, too. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spirituality-of-robots-and-a-i-s-in-fiction/237482/12 "2004-03-31T23:58:21Z")
_Last Rites_ by Charles Beaumont is all about this question. Arguably, telling you that is a spoiler. But I first read the story in the Monster Book Of Monsters under A is for Aliens, Androids, AAAARGH! There were no apparent aliens or aaargh! in the story so it was obviously about androids. I second _The Quest For Saint Aquin_. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2004, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spirituality-of-robots-and-a-i-s-in-fiction/237482/13 "2004-04-01T04:02:34Z")
There’s also Fredric Brown’s “Answer.” 🙂 In **Toy Story** , the toy aliens had their own religion. “He has been chosen!” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spirituality-of-robots-and-a-i-s-in-fiction/237482/14 "2004-04-01T04:06:44Z")
Here’s another: **Tower of Glass** by Robert Silverberg delves into androids who have developed their own religion.