--- abstract: 'This article is a review of the following three books, and explores the question of why artificial intelligence is viewed with fear by many people. Thomas M. Georges Digital Soul: Intelligent Machines and Human Values (Boulder, CO: Westview Press), 2004. Stefan Helmreich Silicon Second Nature: Culturing Artificial Life in a Digital World (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press), 2000. Anne Foerst God in the Machine: What Robots Teach Us About Humanity and God (New York: Dutton), 2004.' altloc: - http://www.cs.umd.edu/~anderson/papers/ai_fear.pdf chapter: ~ commentary: ~ commref: ~ confdates: ~ conference: ~ confloc: ~ contact_email: ~ creators_id: [] creators_name: - family: Anderson given: Michael honourific: Dr. lineage: '' date: 2005 date_type: published datestamp: 2005-10-20 department: ~ dir: disk0/00/00/45/77 edit_lock_since: ~ edit_lock_until: ~ edit_lock_user: ~ editors_id: [] editors_name: [] eprint_status: archive eprintid: 4577 fileinfo: /style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png;/4577/1/ai_fear.pdf full_text_status: public importid: ~ institution: ~ isbn: ~ ispublished: ~ issn: ~ item_issues_comment: [] item_issues_count: 0 item_issues_description: [] item_issues_id: [] item_issues_reported_by: [] item_issues_resolved_by: [] item_issues_status: [] item_issues_timestamp: [] item_issues_type: [] keywords: 'artificial intelligence, religion, values, culture' lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:56:12 latitude: ~ longitude: ~ metadata_visibility: show note: To appear in Artificial Intelligence. number: ~ pagerange: ~ pubdom: FALSE publication: ~ publisher: ~ refereed: TRUE referencetext: ~ relation_type: [] relation_uri: [] reportno: ~ rev_number: 12 series: ~ source: ~ status_changed: 2007-09-12 17:00:54 subjects: - comp-sci-art-intel succeeds: ~ suggestions: ~ sword_depositor: ~ sword_slug: ~ thesistype: ~ title: Why is AI so scary? type: preprint userid: 5247 volume: ~