Singularity and God

One of the "flip" side of the various "criteria for personhood" spouted by self proclaimed bioethicists is the question of: if Robots are intelligent and have free will, are they persons? Do they have rights? Do they have souls?

I haven't read any wise theological discussions on this: most are like THIS...

These are really two different questions...

Should a robot have "rights"? Well, if he has self awareness and wants them, then I agree with Asimov on that one (i.e. that a being that requests rights is entitled to them)...
And of course all things should be respected...do animals have "rights"? No, but we need to be stewards and respect and protect them for our own's sake...

Ah, but souls?

Since souls are infused by God, then robots don't have souls...Christianity assumes that humans have souls because they are human... all humans, including the retarded, the elderly, and infants are human persons with souls...but that does not answer if a fully cognisant, self aware, independent robot would have a soul or not...probably not, since God did not make him, but man did.....

Case closed....except...

There is an interesting story in Tolkien's Simarillion...only Eru (God) sang the song that led to the making of men and elves, so they are called "the children of Eru"...

But one of the Valar, Aule the Smith, desired to do his own thing, and made Dwarves...and when Eru saw them, he asked why...and Aule's answer was to copy Eru and have beings to enjoy creation and to teach...but Aule recognized that the wish was partly his own ego, and so he repented his deed offered to destroy the dwarves....

At this point, the dwarves cowered and begged for life...and Eru saw that Aule had made dwarves not as slaves, but as independent beings... so because they were not autonomons but beings, and because Aule was obedient, that Eru did not destroy them, but rather he gave them souls......LINK

But that leads to the question: Will dwarves's souls die with their bodies?...ironically, although Tolkien insists that men are not limited to this world, he has no definite answer for the ultimate fate of either the dwarves nor the elves (nor the Ents or orcs, for that matter)...but he hints they may also live beyond the end of time (see discussion in the book Morgoth's Ring)..

So if you see God as a joyous creator of beauty, who is happy when his creations make new and beautiful things, and who is father to all creation, the question of robots having souls might not have a rigid answer of yes or no...

Alas, the overwhelming hubris of too many of the transhumanist, genetic manipulation, and singularity sphere suggest they are seeking power so I suspect they will make "obedient" robots as slaves...actions that seem closer to Saruman's Uruk Hai than to Aule and the dwarves or Yavannah and the Ents...

But if a robot is truly independent and tries to do what is right, will God's mercy extend to him in life and death?

I guess your answer depends on whether you believe in God's mercy or not...

As for Chimera/superanimals as slaves, Cordwainer Smith's stories come to a similar conclusion...