COG IS TO US AS WE ARE TO GOD - A RESPONSE TO FOERST,ANNE

Foerst says that a robot must have human features if it is to learn to relate to human beings. She argues that the image of God (imago dei) represents no more than a promise of God to relate to us. In our view, however, the principle of embodied artificial intelligence (AI) in th e robot suggests some kind of embodiedness of the image of God in huma n beings if they are to learn to relate to God. Foerst's description o f how people react to a humanoid robot reads like Otto's description o f the divine as mysterium fascinans et tremendum (awesome and alluring mystery) description makes robot-human interaction seem more religiou s than human-God interaction.