What Is the Afterlife Like for Robots? An Experimental Eschatological Sneak Peek

• Published in: Zygon Vol. 59; no. 3; p. 692
• Main Author: Tretter, Max
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Open Library of Humanities 21.10.2024
• Subjects: 20th century; 21st century; Anthropocentrism; Artificial intelligence; Eschatology; Religious Robots: AI as Religious Subject and Object; Robots; Sensors; Television programs; Terminology; Theology; popular culture; TV series; robotics; Protestantism; eschatology; semantic theology; Christianity; artificial intelligence
• ISSN: 1467-9744; 0591-2385; 1467-9744
• DOI: 10.16995/zygon.10903

People have always pondered their afterlife. Now, as AI and robotics continue to advance and proliferate, a new question emerges: Is there also some kind of “afterlife” for robots—and how can we envision it? This article seeks to explore these very queries from a Christian perspective. To tackle the initial question, I argue that, following the thoughts of St. Paul and St. Augustine, the whole of creation is sinful and seeks completion, it would be inconsistent to nurture such an all-encompassing hope yet exclude robots from it. From a Christian perspective, we should therefore assume the existence of an afterlife for robots. To decipher how we can envision it, I examine two pop-cultural depictions from the television episode “Zima Blue” and the television series Futurama, questioning whether they provide a fitting image of eschatological completion for robots. This methodological approach allows me to present a spectrum of conceptions of robotic afterlife that, when examined through the lens of systematic theology, appear plausible, offering fresh impetus for eschatological and robophilosophical reflections.