To Make a Mind—A Primer on Conscious Robots

The dream of making a conscious humanoid–whether as servant, guard, entertainer, or simply as testament to human creativity–has long captivated the human imagination. However, while past attempts were performed by magicians and mystics, today scientists and engineers are doing the work to turn myth into reality. This essay introduces the fundamental concepts surrounding human consciousness and machine consciousness and offers a theological contribution. Using the biblical association of the soul to blood, it will be shown that the Bible provides evidence of a scientific claim, while at the same time, science provides evidence of a biblical claim.