In Our Image: Artificial Intelligence and the Human Spirit

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.

Author: Noreen L. Herzfeld
Publisher: Fortress Press
Published: 09/05/2000
Pages: 148
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.56lbs
Size: 8.98h x 6.08w x 0.38d
ISBN: 9780800634766

Review Citation(s):
Christian Century 09/25/2002 pg. 36

About the Author
Herzfeld, Noreen L.: -

Noreen L. Herzfeld is Associate Professor of Computer Science at St. John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota. She holds a doctorate in theology, and advanced degrees in mathematics and computer science.

This title is not returnable