A former Google engineer says an automated tech support operator has become self-aware. In fact, it has hired a lawyer to defend its rights in court. But Christian author and tech ethicist Jason Thacker asserts this is not the first step toward a real-life Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.
"There is a natural fear of … losing our jobs to robots or the idea of kind of the sci-fi movie plot of killer robots coming to take over our world; I don't believe that's possible," he tells AFN.
And while no one knows the limits of future technology, Thacker says it is impossible for a robot to become human.
"There are limitations on what we can create," he submits. "We don't create as God creates. We're not co-creators in that sense."
He recognizes, however, that the world may define being human as some theoretical line of intelligence or awareness, but that is not theologically accurate.
"From the Christian perspective, our value, our dignity, our worth, and what does it mean to be human beings comes down to the ideas of the image of God," Thacker submits. "Our worth and our value and dignity is not tied to what we do; it's tied to who we are as created by God in his image as his unique image bearers."
