A robot priest

Another job taken by robots. This robot priest will bless you. (Humans need not apply.
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This article in the Guardian tells the story.

The robot has a touchscreen chest, two arms and a head. For the past 10 days, it has offered blessings in a choice of German, English, French, Spanish or Polish. Worshippers can choose between a male or female voice.

The robot raises its arms, flashes lights, recites a biblical verse and says: “God bless and protect you.” If requested, it will provide a printout of its words. A backup robot is available in case of breakdown.

The article includes a video of the robot giving a blessing. It’s a must watch.

Experimental data:

Even though the blessing was in German, the robot was giving the blessing to someone else, it had happened in the past, and I was watching a video and not experiencing the blessing live, I felt exactly as blessed as I have when I’ve been blessed by a human cleric.

More research is clearly needed, but first we need a reliable and objective way to test for blessedness. For all I know, I was way more blessed by the human cleric than the robot priest. Or the reverse.

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