Director Dr Derek Abbott Phone (08) 8303 5748 dabbott@eleceng.adelaide.edu.au

Associate Director Dr David Williams Phone (08) 8303 5503 dwilliam@chemeng.adelaide.edu.au

Secretary Mr Andrew Allison Phone (08) 8303 5283 aallison@eleceng.adelaide.edu.au

Abstract: What does it mean to be human? Is there really anything that makes us ‘special’ and distinguishes us from animals or, for that matter, from machines?  I will introduce various concept of ‘intelligence’ in Artificial Intelligence. I will especially focus on two robot projects, Cog and Kismet, currently developed at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. These robots are part of a new emerging camp of behaviour-based, biologically inspired ‘Embodied AI.’ I will introduce the camp and the technologies used for the robots. As these robots become increasingly social and interactive, they raise new questions about our own self-understanding and of concepts like personhood. In the last part of my talk, I will briefly introduce some concepts of personhood from the Jewish and Christian perspective and will see to what extent insights from Embodied AI and insights from these religious traditions can influence and enrich each other to enhance our understanding of ourselves.

Resume: Anne Foerst studied theology, computer science and philosophy at the universities of Wuppertal and Bonn and received her Ph.D. in theology from the University of Bochum. Since 1995 she has been the theological adviser in the Cog-group at MIT AI-Lab. She is also affiliated with the Center for the Study of Values in Public Life at Harvard Divinity School. She directs the “God and Computers” project, an interdisciplinary dialogue project at MIT. She has published numerous papers on the interaction between anthropological concepts of AI and theology and their consequences for society. Currently she is working on an edition of her “God and Computers” project, published by MIT-Press, and on her book “Are our Bodies Ourselves: Insights from Robotics and Theology” with Columbia University Press.
All welcome.
http://www.eleceng.adelaide.edu.au/Groups/centre_bme