Since I edited the book Rhetorical Machines with my colleague, John Jones, I have kept a close eye on news bits that relate to the computational aspect of human-machine interactions. Recently, I came across the robot priest - a robot meant to teach visitors about Buddhist principles in the Kodaiji Temple in Kyoto. I haven't had the chance to see this robot in person, but I will post updates in the near future if I find the funds to actually go and visit the temple.
When I first saw the machine in the video, my first reaction was to respond to it as a scholar, but then I resisted this impetus and tried to reflect on how I related to this as a human, as a person who would go there and meet this machine in a place meant for spirituality. What I find troubling with this encounter is not the idea of using a robot for this purpose. I actually appreciate the opportunity to learn about Buddhism in an interactive way. I am not bothered with the looks of it either; in fact, I appreciate that the makers of this robot do not hide the wires and the mixed matter of a human-looking face with the other bits and circuits that make the machine. I find the design of the machine quite interesting in this place where questions of matter and physicality need to be negotiated with other types of matter: spiritual, soul-related, untouchable, indescribable. What I do find troubling, instead, is the testimony of the human priest who so confidently argues that now the teachings of Buddha will move beyond each individual human priest at the temple. The robot will not perish and can continue the legacy of teachings beyond the bodies of each priest who will guard the temple. Maybe I am nostalgic, but what is actually magic about temples is the mix of perishable and non-perishable matter, the meeting points of clothes and human flesh and the immensity and un-measure-ability of what the place stands for and calls in. I think I simply don't like to see a robot in a temple not because it is a machine but because the human priests em-bodies the teachings of Buddha in a different way, in a more paradoxical and confrontational way, making the gap between human-ness and holiness more tangible and immediate. I guess I would have to experience the encounter with the robot priest in person to better understand the many complex relationships between wires, flesh and soul. Interesting times ahead!
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Lavinia HirsuProject updates, research musings and other news on my research activities Archives
December 2019
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