In Our Image (Theology and the Sciences): Artificial Intelligence and the Human Spirit - Softcover

Herzfeld, Noreen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0800634764 ISBN 13: 9780800634766

Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2000

Synopsis

In Our Image is the first extensive theological engagement with the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Herzfeld probes this new field, which seeks to model human intelligence in computers, for its theological depth. She argues that "At the root of the fascination our current culture has with creating an image of ourselves in an intelligent computer lies a continuing problematic of defining ... what it means to be truly human." She shows how AI continues the classic Christian quest for defining the image of God in humans.Offering a smart, accessible history and typology of research in AI, Herzfeld shows how its rival schools parallel competing options in the theological anthropologies of Niebuhr, von Rad, and Barth. She probes our interest in AI and argues that a relational anthropology informs the best research and the many depictions of AI in science fiction and film. Herzfeld's exciting work further develops this relational model, in which she finds a needed corrective to the individualistic and narcissistic tendencies of much recent spirituality and the seeds of a human/computer ethic.

About this title

About the Author

Noreen L. Herzfeld is Reuter Professor of Science and Religion at St. John's University and senior research associate with ZRS Koper. A theologian and computer scientist, she is the author of several books, including In Our Image: Artificial Intelligence and the Human Spirit.

Edition details

• Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0800634764
• ISBN 13: 9780800634766
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 148