I believe values and ethics in the development of novel technology should, as a minimum, include issues related to harming humans or humanity. For example, I believe it would be unethical to intentionally develop machine self-awareness in a computer or robot with a level of unpredictability that poses a clear danger to humans. In this sense, machine ‘rights’ should never trump human rights. In my own personal worldview, I believe that life, including ‘spiritual consciousness’, is more than just a collection of material causes but is something that in some way transcends our physical universe and interfaces with God’s overall realm. As a result, our values and ethics should be consistent with God’s. Also, as noted in my response to Part 2, I believe the step going from inanimate to alive would have to be God’s action, not ours.

I personally take meaning in my existence from my relationship with God the Creator, from which goodness and happiness overflow to my relationships with people and with the material universe.

In my book: Freedom All the Way Up: God and the Meaning of Life in a Scientific Age, I identify two principal and two subsidiary elements to what people are talking about when they talk about "the meaning of life." The two principle elements are Self-worth (feeling my life has value) and Purpose. The two subsidiary elements are Identity and Hope, and these both serve Self-worth and Purpose. In effect, there is a feedback look between each of these elements. A Christian view of the meaning of life will understand each of these (Self-worth, Purpose, Identity, and Hope) through the the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. "Constructionism" is the view that since there is no God, each of us is left having to construct meaning for our own lives. But I also argue that while God gives ultimate orientation to each of Self-worth, Purpose, Identity, and Hope, we are still responsible to God for our lives, and we do still have our own individual characteristics and abilities, therefore we do retain a constructionist element within the meaning of our lives as Christians -- such as choosing our career, making marriage and children decisions, the hobbies we pursue, the service to others choices we make, etc. But we do this not within a materialist worldview but within a framework of God's agape-love as the ultimate basis for our Self-worth, Purpose, Identity, and Hope. And this four-fold pattern (Self-worth, Purpose, Identity, and Hope, provides a very helpful framework by which to talk about faith with others.) This is where I've landed after many years of exploring the literature around this theme.