Continued from part 1
Perhaps then it isn’t Christianity (alone) but Americas peculiar relationship to Christianity, vis-à-vis the transatlantic slavery, that informs American attitudes towards AI, automation, and robotization. Shaped by unique social circumstances in their interaction with non-European, and non-Christian population, Christian doctrine indeed took a different turn when it came to the shores of the Americas.
In “Stamped from the Beginning”, Ibrahim Kendi X, points out the distinctly American historical phenomena of debating whether enslaved Africans should have spirits or souls “conferred” onto them by being “allowed” to accept Christianity. This polemical discussion had no parallel within Shintoism or Buddhism, which already accepted that all creatures had souls.
Japanese Couple wed by Robot Priest
Shinto Robot Priest Leads Prayers
Thus, the private societal discourse over whether a ‘soulless’ workforce was capable of developing a ‘soul’, and subsequently whether they should be granted access to information reserved for soul carrying creatures (humans) was the
