Mindar the robo-Buddhist can absorb and retain the entire knowledge of its religion. The robot, installed three years ago as a priest in the Kodai-ji temple in Kyoto, Japan, can live – as Buddha wanted – without desire or earthly ambition.
It can do so while preaching tirelessly and unendingly.
What Mindar can’t do, though, is convince its flock to fill the offertory bowl – at least, not as well as a human.
This is why, of all the jobs that can be automated, a new study has claimed AI will not be the clergy. The problem, the researchers found, is that no matter how impressive a robot’s programming, if you’re going to preach about the eternal and ineffable soul it really helps to have
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