“Who Am I” and “What Can They Do”: The Personhood of Artificial Beings and the Futuristic Development of Religion in Posthuman Era
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15581885Keywords:
Personhood, Artificial beings, Identity, Religion, PosthumanismAbstract
The challenge posed by technological advancements to religions is a well-established topic. However, the granting of personhood to artificial beings not only amplifies this challenge (what can they do) but also transforms the identity of human beings (who am I). The exploration of granting personhood to artificial beings by many countries, directly or indirectly, indicates a trend aligned with posthumanism. This article delves into two aspects of transcendence (personhood of artificial beings and identity of human beings) in order to ascertain their impact on religions and its futuristic development.
References
A. Atabekov, O. Yastrebov. 2018. Legal Status of Artificial Intelligence Across Countries: Legislation on the Move. European Research Studies Journal. 4: 773 - 782.
Al-Kassimi, Khaled. 2023. A Postmodern (Singularity) Future with a Post-Human Godless Algorithm: Trans-Humanism, Artificial Intelligence, and Dataism. Religions. 14: 1049.
Alexis Dyschkant. 2015. "Legal Personhood: How We Are Getting It Wrong". University of Jllinois Law Review. 2075-2110
Anfeng Sheng, Fei Wang. 2022. Falling in love with machine: emotive potentials between human and robots in science fiction and reality. Neohelicon. 49:563–577.
Beth Singler. 2022. Origin and the End: Artificial Intelligence, Atheism, and Imaginaries of the Future of Religion. Emerging Voices in Science and Theology. Ed Bethany Sollereder, Alister McGrath. New York: Routledge
Bruce Baer Arnold and Drew Gough. 2017. “Turing's People: Personhood, Artificial Intelligence and Popular Culture". Canberra Law Review. 15. 1-37.
Cavus, Cennet. 2021. Transhumanism, Posthumanism, And The “Cyborg Identity”. Fe Dergi: Feminist Ele¸ stiri 13: 177–84.
Calvin Mercer and Tracy J. Trothen. 2021. Religion and the Technological Future: An Introduction to Biohacking, Artificial Intelligence, and Transhumanism. Palgrave Macmillan.
F. Patrick Hubbard.2011. Do Androids Dream: Personhood and Intelligent Artifacts. Temple Law Review. 83: 405-474.
Faruque, Muhammad. 2022. AI versus Human Consciousness: A Future with Machines as Our Masters? Renovatio.
Available online: https://renovatio.zaytuna.edu/article/ai-versus-human-consciousness (accessed on 5 January 2024).
Farzad Mahootian.2011. Ideals of Human Perfection: A Comparison of Sufism and Transhumanism. Building Better Humans?: Refocusing the Debate on Transhumanism. Edited by K. Mossman. Frankfurt: Peter Land, pp. 83-104
Francis. 2023. Audience with Participants in the Meeting Rome Call for A.I. Ethics Organized by the Pontifical Academy for Life and the Renaissance Foundation.
Available online: https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2023/01/10/230110a. html (accessed on 25 January 2024)
Glatz, Carol. 2023. North Star: Technology Needs an Ethical Guiding Light, Speakers Say. USCCB. Available online: https://www.usccb.org/news/2023/north-star-technology-needs-ethical-guiding-light- speakers-say (accessed on 2 April 2023)
Hava Tirosh-Samuelson. 2011. Science and the Betterment of Humanity: Three British Prophets of Transhumanism. Building Better Humans?: Refocusing the Debate on Transhumanism. Edited by K. Mossman. Frankfurt: Peter Land. 55–83.
John Klaasen.2021. Religion and Development: The Idea of Personhood for Social Change. Religion & Theology. 28:179–205
John Niman. 2012. In Support of Creating a Legal Definition of Personhood. Journal of Law and Social Deviance.142-244.
Linell E. Cady.2011. Religion and the Technowonderland of Transhumanism. Building Better Humans?: Refocusing the Debate on Transhumanism. Edited by K. Mossman. Frankfurt: Peter Land. 83-104
Magerstadt, Sylvie.2024. Upload, Cyber-Spirituality and the Quest for Immortality in Contemporary Science-Fiction Film and Television. Religions. 15: 109.
Manchester Cathedral. 2017. Feeling Blessed at Manchester Science Festival? BlessU-2 Robot Comes to Manchester Cathedral and the Museum of Science and Industry on a Weekend Visit from Germany.
Available online: https://www.manchestercathedral.org/site/assets/fifiles/6077/manchester_science_festival _-_bless_u2_robot.pdf (accessed on 19 December 2023).
Midson, Scott. 2022.Posthuman Priests: Exploring the New Visibility of Religion' in Robotic Re(-)presentations of Religious Rituals. Religions. 13: 941.
Norbert Samuelson and Hava Tirosh-Samuelson.2011. Jewish Perspectives on Transhumanism. Building Better Humans?: Refocusing the Debate on Transhumanism. Edited by K. Mossman. Frankfurt: Peter Land. 83-104
Odorcak, Juraj, and Pavlina BakoSova. 2021. Robots, Extinction, and Salvation: On Altruism in Human-Posthuman Interactions. Religions. 12: 275.
Pastor, Luis, and Jose Cuadrado. 2014. Modernity and Postmodernity in the Genesis of Transhumanism - Posthumanism. Cuadernos de Bioetica. 25: 335–50.
Ren Zichen. 2019. Research on the necessity of granting personality rights to intelligent robots. Dissertation. Southwest University
Umbrello, Steven. 2023.The Intersection of Bernard Lonergan's Critical Realism, the Common Good, and Artificial Intelligence in Modern Religious Practices. Religions 14: 1536.
Tan, Q., Huang, Y., & Wu, Y. 2023. Posthuman and Personhood: Legal Ambiguity of Robo Spiens, Corporate and Nature in Jeanette Winterson’s The Stone Gods. Journal of Theory and Practice of Social Science. 3(9): 13–20.
Yang Qing-wang, Zhang Lei. 2018. On the Artificial Legal Personality of Artificial Intelligence. Journal of Hunan University of Science ＆ Technology (Social Science Edition). 6: 91-97.
Zhang Jianwen. 2018. The Contribution and limitation of Grishin's Law -- A review of Russia's first draft Robot Law. Journal of East China University of Political Science and Law. 2: 32-41.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Chang Li, Yuwei Huang
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
