Although Buddhism has become increasingly popular in the West, some vital concepts remain abstruse. Naturalistic Buddhism has arisen mainly as an attempt to demystify certain aspects of Buddhist philosophy, with the idea of rebirth being a particular case in point. In this paper we discuss the difficulties of the naturalization of karma, and show that an understanding of karma with rebirth is coherent with the core teachings of the Buddha. We then attempt to clarify the purpose of karma from the standpoint of Mahayana ethics. We argue that the concepts of rebirth and karma were not only taught to encourage virtuous behavior for the sake of future benefit, but also to reinforce the practitioner's commitment to moral discipline. Although Buddhism allows for different perspectives on rebirth from a modern point of view, a reinterpretation of the concept should not focus on rebirth as something to be explained away. Instead, new perspectives can be used as an additional means to enhance moral education and spiritual development.
As AI technology becomes more influential, ethical considerations surrounding its application are becoming increasingly relevant. In this paper, I reflect on some moral questions from a Buddhist perspective and consider the moral status of AI to evaluate its function and purpose in our lives. Since a robot lacks the capacity to experience suffering and has no conscience, AI ethics are possible only as ethics about robots and not as ethics for robots. Despite having no concrete moral status, robots cannot be deemed entirely morally insignificant as they exist as moral objects toward which moral agents have a duty. Our unique endowment as human beings is the intelligence for moral deliberation as we develop AI technologies and determine the future direction of humanity. From a Buddhist point of view, there is potential to advance our spiritual growth through the realization of the interdependence between humans and AI. As we recognize the uniqueness of our humanity and take a middle-way approach, the rise of robots need not threaten our existence but could instead catapult humanity into a new dawn.
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