John Miedema

Robots and Readers, Pt. 4

Do robots have a soul? Perhaps that seems a silly question. Robots do not eat. They do not sleep. They have no family. In Asimov’s I, Robot, they may not own property. After all, property cannot own property. Objects cannot own objects. Objects may be intelligent, but the intelligence is artificial. Robots do not have a soul. But how can one tell for sure? An inquiry into reading may provide some insight.

In I, Robot, machines have brushes with the divine. The Laws of Robotics forbid machines to harm or disobey humans, but in some cases humans give orders that may cause harm to themselves. One robot resolves the contradiction by inventing a deity with higher authority than humans. Another highly sophisticated robot, The Brain, is tasked with breaking the laws of physics, and can do so only through supernatural activity. When asked how it was possible, The Brain replies, “The matter admits to no explanation.” The three laws are essentially an ethical code, not so different from our own, naturally extending into metaphysical territory.

As humans, we think that since we create technology, we must be superior to it. Consider though that we only build things for tasks we do not do well. We create cars because they are faster than us. If we create thinking machines, it must be because they can think better than us. In one of Asimov’s tales, robot RB-34, aka Herbie, “does triple integrals in his head and eats up tensor analysis for dessert.” Even so, “the dope doesn’t like math. He would rather read slushy novels.” Herbie calls them “studies of the interplay of human motives and emotions.” If robots have a core code that governs their relationships with humans, it is no wonder that an intelligent robot would read to learn more about them.

Robots do not eat. Perhaps that is proof that they do not have a soul. On the other hand, religious ascetics aspire to transcend their physical needs, counting it as evidence of their spiritual progress. Personally, I think an appetite for knowledge and meaning is a good indicator of a spiritual dimension. This hunger may cause another corporeal attachment, an addiction to reading, since it allows them to think with other minds on their path of discovery. If you want to know if robots have a soul, look to their reading habits; I could say the same of people.

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