Hannah Waite and Nick Spencer’s briefing paper on spiritual silicone. 23/05/2022

This briefing paper looks at the question of robot souls and robot rights. Do we think robots will ever develop a soul (whatever that is)? Do we think they should be accorded rights? Are whether particular groups in society – age, education, religion – are more (or less) accepting of ‘spiritual silicon’? And what might this say about the uniqueness of humans and the future boundary between carbon and silicon life? 

The topics are drawn from the research project Science and religion: reframing the conversation, undertaken by Theos and The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion.  

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