If you show up “unprepared,” the great bouncer at the gates of the after-live will find a problem with your papers and you may end up in some limbo state, something like a post-mortem “temporary hospitality center.” But if a robot-priest “reads” you, what happens? You might wind up as an avatar in Second Life, The Sims, or—even worse—Facebook’s FarmVille. The Christian Taliban definitely have no answer to the question that will torment every believer in the future, but in the land of the rising sun, more practical folk have it all sorted out. If the ceremony is blessed and the message divine, it makes no difference whether it comes from a human, a robot, or a toaster. Forgiveness and the repose of the soul count the same, offered by living priest or robot; the job must be done and the ritual preserved, the rest are details. That’s more or less how they saw it in Japan, and given the high cost of a decent funeral, the company Nissei Eco now offers the Buddhist community the robot priest Pepper. Pepper never attended seminary; in fact, it comes in various versions, yet with the proper vestments and suitable software it’s ready to offer comfort and a few compassionate words to the grieving relatives at a quarter of the price of its human counterpart. Works perfectly—pardon the infelicitous phrase.
In crisis-stricken Greece it would certainly be a good solution and would even solve the problem of the greedy black-robed guild with the deep pockets. And not just at funerals! It would be a delight to have a robopriest at a traditional baptism, dunking the infant into the font while the godmother stands ready to hit restart in case the program freezes and needs a reboot…
Before the little baptizee drowns.